Sourdough Bread

I have been on a bit of a sourdough journey recently. So I thought it might be useful to add a few pages to my site for those who might like to learn more. But if a picture is all you need (and it probably is), you can feast on this, my current standard sourdough loaf.

If it is all about the crumb for you, then I offer the following.

If you would like to learn more about what I’ve been up to, I’m adding a few sourdough bread pages to the site. But skip it if you find the droning on of sourdough newbies boring.

Reading – a year in review, 2023

Another year when my reading totals were down, especially during the summer months when some challenging elder-care out of town meant that I got almost no reading done. That resolved itself satisfactorily and recently my reading has picked up again. As is my habit, I’ve posted short reviews on each of these books I read on LibraryThing.

Writers who impressed me this year include Helen DeWitt, Percival Everett, Claire North, Elif Batuman, Rivka Gelchen, Carys Davies, George Saunders, and Suzette Mayr.

Stats from my 2023 reading list:
  • 23 were borrowed from the public library
  • 2 have Canadian authors
  • 9 were chosen due to personal recommendations from friends
  • 1 was being reread
  • 13 are ebooks
Books read in 2023 (44):
  • Perrin, Valérie. Fresh Water for Flowers
  • Mayr, Suzette. The Sleeping Car Porter
  • Chou, Elaine Hsieh. Disorientation
  • Everett, Percival. Dr. No: a novel
  • Foley, Lucy. The Paris Apartment: a novel
  • Garmus, Bonnie. Lessons in Chemistry: a novel
  • Sanders, George. Liberation Day: stories
  • Murakami, Haruki. Novelist as a Vocation
  • Winman, Sarah. Still Life: a novel
  • Everett, Percival. The Trees: a novel
  • Henry, Emily. Beach Read
  • Powers, Richard. Bewilderment: a novel
  • Powers, Richard. Orfeo: a novel
  • Wilson, Kevin. Now Is Not The Time To Panic: a novel
  • Everett, Percival. Telephone: a novel
  • Ellis, Warren. Nina Simone’s Gum
  • Tevis, Walter. The Queen’s Gambit
  • Strout, Elizabeth. The Burgess Boys: a novel
  • Ayoade, Richard. The Book That No One Wanted To Read
  • Strout, Elizabeth. Amy and Isabelle: a novel
  • Smith, Ali. Companion Piece: a novel
  • Davies, Carys. West: a novel
  • Marche, Stephen. On writing and failure, or, on the peculiar perseverance required to endure the life of a writer
  • Galchen, Rivka. Everyone Know Your Mother Is A Witch
  • Davies, Carys. The Mission House: a novel
  • Porter, Max. Shy: a novel
  • Link, Kelly. White Cat, Black Dog: stories
  • Hay, Elizabeth. Snow Road Station: a novel
  • Friedman, Elyse. The Answer to Everything: a novel
  • Batuman, Elif. The Idiot
  • Godden, Salena. Mrs Death Misses Death
  • Ayoade, Richard. Ayoade on Top
  • Tomine, Adrian. Shortcomings
  • Everett, Percival. I Am Not Sidney Poitier: a novel
  • Wells, Martha. Witch King
  • North, Claire. House of Odysseus
  • Ayoade, Richard. Richard Ayoade Presents: The Grip of Film by Gordy LaSure
  • Aoyama, Michiko. What you are looking for is in the library: a novel
  • Henry, Emily. Happy Place
  • Wells, Martha. System Collapse
  • Driver, Minnie. Managing Expectations: a memoir in essays
  • Rovelli, Carlo. White Holes
  • Everett, Percival. Assumption
  • DeWitt, Helen. The Last Samurai

 

Reading – a year in review, 2022

My reading numbers are down again this year. Too many out of town obligations, I guess. But at least I read some wonderful books and not too many duds. As per usual I’ve posted short reviews on each of the books I read on LibraryThing.

Writers who impressed me this year include W.G. Sebald, Gwendoline Riley, Claire-Louise Bennett, and Chinua Achebe. Special mention for Muriel Spark, seven of whose books I devoured this year happily.

Stats from my 2022 reading list:
• 23 were borrowed from our public library
• 5 have Canadian authors
• 7 were chosen due to personal recommendations from friends
• 1 was being reread
• 10 are ebooks

Books read in 2022 (51):

● Whittall, Zoe. The Spectacular: a novel
● Fraser, Jackie. The Bookshop of Second Chances: a novel
● Heiny, Katherine. Early Morning Riser: a novel
● Le Tellier, Hervé. The Anomaly: a novel
● Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart
● Vila-Matas, Enrique. Mac and His Problem
● Spark, Muriel. The Ballad of Peckham Rye
● Spark, Muriel. The Finishing School
● Bennett, Claire-Louise. Checkout 19
● Spark, Muriel. Loitering With Intent
● Tyler, Anne. French Braid: a novel
● Spark, Muriel. Aiding and Abetting
● Gardam, Jane. Crusoe’s Daughter
● St. John Mandel, Emily. Sea of Tranquility
● Spark, Muriel. The Abbess of Crewe
● Humphreys, Helen. And a Dog Called Fig: Solitude, Connection, The Writing Life
● Spark, Muriel. A Far Cry From Kensington
● Kawakami, Hiromi. People From My Neighbourhood
● Barnes, Julian. Elizabeth Finch
● Natsukawa, Sosuke. The Cat Who Saved Books
● Rovelli, Carlo. There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness and other thoughts on Physics, Philosophy and the World
● Modiano, Patrick. Sundays in August
● Austin, Emily. Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead: a novel
● Henry, Emily. Book Lovers
● Lipscomb, Benjamin J.B. The Women Are Up To Something: How Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch Revolutionized Ethics
● McCall Smith, Alexander. The Sunday Philosophy Club
● McCall Smith, Alexander. Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
● Runyon, Damon. Guys and Dolls and other writings
● Snyder, Carrie. Francie’s Got a Gun
● Sean Greer, Andrew. Less Is Lost
● McCall Smith, Alexander. The Right Attitude to Rain
● McCall Smith, Alexander. Emma: a modern retelling
● Sebald, W.G. The Rings of Saturn
● Coll, Susan. Bookish People: a novel
● Riley, Gwendoline. My Phantoms
● Henry, Emily. The Love That Split The World
● Walter, Jess. The Angel of Rome and other stories
● Kawakami, Mieko. All The Lovers In the Night: a novel
● North, Claire. Ithaka
● Spark, Muriel. The Comforters
● Nunez, Sigrid. Salvation City: a novel
● Nunez, Sigrid. What Are You Going Through
● Strout, Elizabeth. Lucy by the Sea
● Riley, Gwendoline. First Love: a novel
● Drnaso, Nick. Acting Class
● Maass, Donald. Writing 21st Century Fiction: High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling
● MacLeod, Alexander. Animal Person: stories
● Ignatieff, Michael. On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times
● Vandermeer, Jeff. Hummingbird Salamander

Reading – a year in review, 2021

My reading numbers in 2021 are down a bit compared to the previous year. Not to worry, they bounce back. And I still had a good year of reading with very few weak books read and only one true dud. As per usual I’ve posted short reviews of each of the books I read on LibraryThing.

Writers who impressed me this year included Patrick Süskind, China Miéville, George Saunders, Jon McGregor, John Berger, and Muriel Spark. And a special mention goes to Martha Wells, whose Murderbot Diaries novellas were a wonderful distraction.

Stats from my 2021 reading list:

  • 40 were borrowed from our public library
  • 6 have Canadian authors
  • 6 were chosen due to personal recommendations from friends
  • 2 were being reread
  • 5 are ebooks

Books read in 2021 (55):

  • Ewen, Paul. Francis Plug: Writer in Residence
  • Kingwell, Mark. On Risk
  • Setiya, Kieran. Midlife: a philosophical guide
  • Dillon, Brian. Suppose A Sentence
  • O’Farrell, Maggie. Hamnet & Judith
  • Bennett, Claire-Louise. Pond
  • Wells, Martha. The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red
  • Smith, Zadie. Intimations: Six Essays
  • Berger, John. Here is where we meet
  • Kinsky, Esther. River
  • Leilani, Raven. Luster: a novel
  • Murata, Sayaka. Earthlings
  • McEwan, Ian. Machines Like Me
  • Miéville, China. The City & The City
  • Wells, Martha. The Murderbot Diaries: Artificial Condition
  • Wells, Martha. The Murderbot Diaries: Rogue Protocol
  • Pratchett, Terry. The Colour of Magic
  • Wells, Martha. The Murderbot Diaries: Exit Strategy
  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. Klara and The Sun
  • Robinson, Eden. Return of the Trickster
  • Wilson, Kevin. Nothing To See Here
  • Bernhard, Thomas. The Loser
  • Saunders, George. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
  • Walschots, Natalie Zina. Hench
  • Williams, Eley. The Liar’s Dictionary
  • Wells, Martha. The Murderbot Diaries: Network Effect
  • St. Aubyn, Edward. Double Blind
  • Kawakami, Mieko. Heaven: a novel
  • Wells, Martha. The Murderbot Diaries: Fugitive Telemetry
  • North, Claire. Notes From The Burning Age
  • Cusk, Rachel. Second Place
  • Weir, Andy. Project Hail Mary
  • Toews, Miriam. Fight Night
  • Süskind, Patrick. The Pigeon
  • Bechdel, Alison. The Secret to Superhuman Strength
  • Rovelli, Carlo. Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution
  • Segal, Lore. Shakespeare’s Kitchen
  • Nunez, Sigrid. The Friend
  • Porter, Max. The Death of Francis Bacon
  • Calvino, Italo. Last Comes the Raven and Other Stories
  • Alexis, André. Ring
  • Mills, Carolyn Huizinga. The Good Son: a novel
  • McGregor, Jon. Lean Fall Stand
  • Austen, Jane. Persuasion: An Annotated Edition edited by Robert Morrison
  • Sáenz, Benjamin Alire. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
  • Erpenbeck, Jenny. Not a Novel: A Memoir in Pieces
  • Smiley, Jane. Perestroika in Paris
  • Kawaguchi, Toshikazu. Before the Coffee Gets Cold: a novel
  • Strout, Elizabeth. Oh William!: a novel
  • Bordas, Camille. How to Behave in a Crowd: a novel
  • Spark, Muriel. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
  • Moshfegh, Ottessa. Eileen: a novel
  • Modiano, Patrick. Young Once
  • Spark, Muriel. The Girls of Slender Means
  • King, Lily. Five Tuesdays in Winter: stories

 

NaNoWriMo 2021

A bit to my surprise I’ve committed to writing 50000 words of a new novel over the course of November. Thousands of people have done this in previous years and now I too am one of those taking part in NaNoWriMo. I spent the previous ten or eleven days prepping, going down various blind alleys, deciding on a structure, main characters, and more. It’s the most consistent writing work I’ve done in a few years. And it was fun!

I note that there are lots social media options for NaNoWriMo including for the Kitchener-Waterloo area group. I don’t see myself participating in that way but I’m glad these options are available for those who enjoy them.

I’ll add a note to this post at the end of the month to report on whether I met my goal.

19 November: Earlier today I passed the 50000 word mark for this novel. I’ve got a complete first draft and I will now set it aside for a time before I return to it to work on the second draft. It was a fun experience, but I was really glad I did that prep work before starting writing.