Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
During the months of December and January Joplin Public Library runs the Adult Winter Reading Challenge. Starting December 1, 2025 and ending January 31, 2026, the challenge aims to provide a fun challenge that encourages participants to read something new or outside their comfort zone. It’s also a great way to get ahead on New Year’s resolutions and spend cold winter months with books. The challenge is comprised of 15 reading categories and to complete the challenge a reader must do at least 5 of them. The reader chooses which 5 they’d like to do, and what books to read that fit those categories. Titles may only be used once. This challenge is open to anyone 18 years of age or older, and a Joplin Public Library card is not required to participate. Challenge forms can be found at the library and on our website calendar. There is also an option to participate electronically. I enjoy participating in the challenge each year, and I also enjoy the prizes, which are a specialized ceramic mug and three tickets for a raffle drawing. If you are a reader and enjoy a reading challenge every now and then, I encourage you to visit the library or our website calendar to take a look at the challenge to see if it might be of interest!
The first category I tackled is “Nonhuman character” and for that I have read the recently published Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz. A science fiction novel set in future San Francisco, California, the four main characters are all sentient robots (nonhuman characters). The novel opens with the bots awakening months after their last stored memory, abandoned in the restaurant they used to operate for the human owners. The restaurant is in shambles due to flooding and storms in the city, and the bots are unsure of what to do at first. The novel does a nice job of revealing the bots and this future world’s history a bit at a time, and it doesn’t take long to learn that the bots had been through a war in which they fought for their own independence and the separation of California from the rest of the United States.
The bots – Staybehind, Sweetie, Hands, and Cayenne – don’t take long to decide to do what they know best: operation and functionality. They work together to bring the restaurant back to life. The restaurant used to serve a wacky combination of foods (tacos, hamburgers, pastas) due to low overhead costs, but Hands (the cook of the group) decides they need to make one thing, and make it well. He decides they’ll make hand-pulled noodles. Each taking up their own role, the bots piece together the restaurant and their new found purpose. Like any small business operators, they encounter bumps in the road which are made more complicated by anti-robot sentiments. Staybehind, Sweetie, Hands, and Cayenne really have pure intentions and make delicious food, and the novel creates a plot in which the reader will find themselves empathizing with them versus some of the humans.
This novel feels very timely for the world today. It examines technology and AI and the role it plays in society, and where it could go. This novel was also fun and a short, snappy read (I chose the audio version which has a 4 hour runtime). It has an equal rights undertone and the post-war the bots live in made me think of the challenges historically faced by marginalized groups. Newitz creates lovable, fun characters that come across quite innocent, and the novel is rooted in friendship. I think this is a good read for science fiction readers that are looking for something more on the lighthearted side. Also, it accomplishes one of the Winter Reading Challenge categories! Join the challenge anytime in December or January to feel the self-satisfaction of completing a challenge and the joy of reading, plus get your own special mug for those warm winter drinks!
Review by Sarah Turner-Hill, Adult Programming Coordinator
