DEDICATION: To my parents. For everything.* We’ll get back to that “dedication” in a few moments. Sloane Crosley is a thirty-something New Yorker with learning disabilities and a snarky personality. These personal essays explore Crosley’s trips to Paris and Portugal (disaster lurks!), her adventures with pets, her encounter with a grizzly cub in Alaska, and a romantic relationship that goes Wrong. I enjoyed Sloane Crosley’s first book of essays, I Was Told There’d Be Cake where we found out about Crosley’s tribulations at an all-girls summer camp. The world of women mystifies me so these reports from the Other Side enlighten me. Now, back to that “dedication”:
*Everything except the two-week period in 1995 directly following the time you went to Ohio for a wedding and I threw a party in the house, which is the most normal thing a teenager American can do, aside from lie about it, which I also did, and Mom eyed me suspiciously for days. morphing into a one-woman Scotland Yard, marching into my bedroom with a fistful of lint from the dryer to demonstrate that I had mysteriously washed all the towels, and then she waited until we were in a nice restaurant to scream, “Someone vomited on my couch, I know it!” and Dad took away my automotive privileges straight through college so that I spent the subsequent four years likening you both to Stasi foot soldiers, confined as I was to a campus-on-the-hill when I could have been learning how to play poker at the casinos down the road and making bad decisions at townie bars. I think we can all agree you overreacted.
For everything except that, I am profoundly grateful. I have only the greatest affection for you now. Also: I vomited on the couch.
Love the title I WAS TOLD THERE’D BE CAKE.
I WAS TOLD THERE’D BE CAKE will have you laughing, Jeff. It’s a very funny book.
This all sounds strangely similar to my youth. Have to look for it.
HOW DID YOU GET THIS NUMBER presents a number of essays were you’ll get a “shock of recognition,” Patti. As you can tell, Sloane Crosley had me at her DEDICATION.
Sloane Crosley is my hero! I wish I could write half as well as she does. This dedication is amazing and can’t wait to read the new book. Thanks for posting!!!!
You’re right, Alice, Sloane Crosley’s DEDICATION is amazing! It reeled me right into HOW DID YOU GET THIS NUMBER.
This looks wonderful! Wow. I’m in search of it now. Thanks for the tip, George.
You will love HOW DID YOU GET THIS NUMBER, Rick. Sloane Crosley shares your kind of humor.
Is there any need to read the earlier book first?
No, Rick. Sloane Crosley’s first book, I WAS TOLD THERE’D BE CAKE, just has more sly essays by this engaging woman. I enjoyed reading both books.