Study Break

While I’ve had a month off from writing this blog, I haven’t been slacking off on my reading. From microagressions and power to virtues and race, I’ve been trying to assimilate a variety of provocative thinkers and ideas. Having finally selected my ethics project topic and written three of the four papers I need to finish the quarter, I decided to pick up Sourdough by Robin Sloan for a tiny study break. 

There went my afternoon.

But at least I was able to check off the challenge for a one-sitting book.

When Lois Clary lands her dream job as a software engineer in San Francisco, she never expected to be so lonely or exhausted. A phone call to Clement Street Soup and Sourdough introduces her to two brothers who end up providing not just nightly nourishment, but a new vocation. When the brothers are deported, they leave Lois a magical sourdough starter. Soon her bread baking turns from hobby to venture. Her draining days in front of a screen are replaced by the sensory explosion of mornings spent baking at a new underground food market.  

Reading this book reminded me of the first bread book I bought in college. For a semester or so I actually did bake bread every week. However I was never so ambitious as to try a sourdough starter. Now that my kids are interested in baking maybe we can make that our summer project. After I finish all my assigned reading.