book data
3214 ratings, 3.41 average rating, 1056 reviews
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published
April 1st 2008
by Riverhead Trade
binding
Paperback, 240 pages
isbn
159448306X
(isbn13: 9781594483066)
description
Wry, hilarious, and profoundly genuine, this debut collection of literary essays is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory. F...more
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| 50 Books A Year: Leslie's List | 63 | 109 | 11/04/2008 01:49PM | |
| F.A.B.: April - Humor | 5 | 27 | 10/22/2008 06:48AM |
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avg 3.41
Read in October, 2008
HOW TO WRITE A MEMOIR/PERSONAL COLLECTION OF ESSAYS LIKE SEDARIS, BURROUGHS, VOWELL, KLOSTERMAN, AND NOW SLOANE CROSBY:
So you want to be a successful memoirist/personal essayist? Follow these ten steps and wait for the book deals to roll into your mailbox!
1. Write about your upbringing in ways that make it sound charming in its quirkiness (e.g. the Vowell/Klosterman strategy), charming in its weirdness (the Sedaris strategy) or terrifying (the Burroughs strategy). Under...more
So you want to be a successful memoirist/personal essayist? Follow these ten steps and wait for the book deals to roll into your mailbox!
1. Write about your upbringing in ways that make it sound charming in its quirkiness (e.g. the Vowell/Klosterman strategy), charming in its weirdness (the Sedaris strategy) or terrifying (the Burroughs strategy). Under...more
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(27 people liked it)
14 comments
Read in April, 2008
<Sigh.> What can I say?
I never intended to read this book. I probably never would have, had I not received it in a publicity mailing at work. The day it arrived, I was between books and just wanted something to read on the subway. So I did. And then I kept reading.
I tend to not like to read books by "successful" people around my age. If the books suck, I'm angry for wasting my time. Worse, if they're actually good, I'm angry that this person, who might as ...more
I never intended to read this book. I probably never would have, had I not received it in a publicity mailing at work. The day it arrived, I was between books and just wanted something to read on the subway. So I did. And then I kept reading.
I tend to not like to read books by "successful" people around my age. If the books suck, I'm angry for wasting my time. Worse, if they're actually good, I'm angry that this person, who might as ...more
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3 comments
Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in July, 2008
I started writing a review 1/2 way through the book because I had a lot to say about Ms. Crossley. I'm posting the 1/2 way point review because I just couldn't finish the book.
*****
I’m more then 1/2 way through “I Was Told There’d Be Cake”, a book of essays by Sloane Crosley. I started it Sunday, by this morning’s bus ride I’ve plowed through this book relatively easily. She’s a good writer. She manages to keep my ever wandering attention as I over stimulate m...more
*****
I’m more then 1/2 way through “I Was Told There’d Be Cake”, a book of essays by Sloane Crosley. I started it Sunday, by this morning’s bus ride I’ve plowed through this book relatively easily. She’s a good writer. She manages to keep my ever wandering attention as I over stimulate m...more
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4 comments
Read in April, 2008
this book isn't bad, but it isn't good either. it just is. most of the essays are about as quirky as your mom after two glasses of wine, putting her hand over her mouth and gasping about the 'sh-' word. sloane crosley is scared she will suffer an untimely death and whoever cleans out her apartment will find her stash of toy ponies. ... this is not really the stuff of shocking hilarity.
it's almost quaint in its lack of risk-taking. sloane crosley comes across as a sweet, self-depreci...more
it's almost quaint in its lack of risk-taking. sloane crosley comes across as a sweet, self-depreci...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
20-somethings
Essays for Twenty-Somethings
Always on the lookout for a new, fresh voice, and one touted as a "mercurial wit" on a par with David Sedaris and Dorothy Parker, had to be good, right? Well . . . I'm sorry to report these front and back cover comparisons are just good copywriting. I'm not saying this author isn't talented. She is. She's funny, smart, quirky, writes well, and has a few 20-something stories to relate to, perhaps, essay-readers of her generation and fellow Manhattan-ite...more
Always on the lookout for a new, fresh voice, and one touted as a "mercurial wit" on a par with David Sedaris and Dorothy Parker, had to be good, right? Well . . . I'm sorry to report these front and back cover comparisons are just good copywriting. I'm not saying this author isn't talented. She is. She's funny, smart, quirky, writes well, and has a few 20-something stories to relate to, perhaps, essay-readers of her generation and fellow Manhattan-ite...more
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Read in May, 2008
Sloane Crosley is similar to me and my friends in education, background, life experience, career trajectory, and the like. The big difference is she has a book deal, and we do not. As such, I tried to read this with an open mind and not hate her off the bat.
Turned out that was all an unnecessary gesture on my part, as even someone completely remote from her experience would realize she is one of the most talentless hacks to come along in ages. This book was unbearable! These "e...more
Turned out that was all an unnecessary gesture on my part, as even someone completely remote from her experience would realize she is one of the most talentless hacks to come along in ages. This book was unbearable! These "e...more
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First, I have to be fair-I only read about 3/4 of this book because it was all I could stand. Maybe the last 1/4 was amazing.
I found it rambling, uninspired, boring and not very funny. It sounded like the stories you tell your friends-your friends think the stories are funny because they know you. Maybe they even tell you that you're really funny and you should write all these stories down and publish them because you are so funny and your stories are so unique. But you know bett...more
I found it rambling, uninspired, boring and not very funny. It sounded like the stories you tell your friends-your friends think the stories are funny because they know you. Maybe they even tell you that you're really funny and you should write all these stories down and publish them because you are so funny and your stories are so unique. But you know bett...more
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To be fair I didn't read this entire book, but I did read an essay first published on Slate (or Salon?) in which Sloane recounts her ambivalent experience with what seems like a hard-won one night stand.
As a seasoned slut myself, I thought the essay was offensive. Typical ivy-educated, upper-middle class girl wants to experience promiscuity lite by indulging in one--just one!--meaningless, ephemeral sexual experience. Being a young and liberal woman, she feels entitled to tap into ...more
As a seasoned slut myself, I thought the essay was offensive. Typical ivy-educated, upper-middle class girl wants to experience promiscuity lite by indulging in one--just one!--meaningless, ephemeral sexual experience. Being a young and liberal woman, she feels entitled to tap into ...more
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Read in May, 2008
The jacket of this book simultaneously sold and ruined the book for me. I bought it based on the blurb on the cover (from Jonathan Lethem no less!) comparing her to David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell, and the back where another author calls her the twenty-first century Dorothy Parker. I was intrigued. The power of the blurb: I probably wouldn't have even picked up the book in the store without them, but those are some pretty big shoes to fill, and I think my expectations were a little high.
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
No one (not even my worst enemy!)
This book is so awful, so awful I couldn't bring myself to finish it. Maybe I just missed the punch lines (I think these essays were meant to be humorous), but my overwhelming response to these essays was "So what?" Apparently, they are based upon Ms. Crosley's life--I hate to break it to her, but I just don't think her life has been that interesting. The final affront was an apparent joke in her less-than-humorous essay about a possible move to Australia (thank goodness for us Aust...more
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Read in May, 2008
This was our May 2008 book club read...can't say I was thrilled with it. The point was often missing from many of the essays, and while I laughed and happily flipped through the pages, the content seemed better suited for a blog than a book, for the most part. Crosley has a good voice, but I just didn't see the magic that other essayists - like the ubiquitous but amazing David Sedaris - bring to their books. You won't be bored reading this, but it's more like you're listening to your friend tell...more
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Read in August, 2008
A quick, fun read -- essays of a 20-something living in New York. As I spent half my 20s in New York, it took me back. Sloane Crosley has a nice wit and turn of phrase, and can pull you in from the first sentence of her various essays. Here is how three essays started:
"As most New Yorkers have done, I have given serious and generous thought to the state of my apartment should I get killed during the day."
"In 1978, my mother painted an abstract picture of herself holdin...more
"As most New Yorkers have done, I have given serious and generous thought to the state of my apartment should I get killed during the day."
"In 1978, my mother painted an abstract picture of herself holdin...more
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—
Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
social anthropologists in the year 2200
I learned nothing from this book. Except, had I thought to compile my blog posts and everyday suburban thoughts into a book of essays, I could have been published by age 30.
Sloane would be the spokeswoman of my generation if she had anything moderately interesting to say about us. However, after reading her book about our shared lives of relative privilege I feel as though I was raised in Wonder Bread world with not so much as a dash of Arby's sauce. I have no idea why any of the...more
Sloane would be the spokeswoman of my generation if she had anything moderately interesting to say about us. However, after reading her book about our shared lives of relative privilege I feel as though I was raised in Wonder Bread world with not so much as a dash of Arby's sauce. I have no idea why any of the...more
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Read in June, 2008
If someone wants to read this book, I am willing to swap.
Sloane Crosley writes essays about herself. She has a smooth, polished writing style. Her titles are great – standouts include “The Pony Problem,” “Bring-Your-Machete-to-Work-Day” and of course “I Was Told There’d Be Cake.” Some of her essays are funny and insightful. I particularly liked “The Ursula Cookie” and “Sign Language for Infidels.”
Memoir writing is popular now, but there are pitfal...more
Sloane Crosley writes essays about herself. She has a smooth, polished writing style. Her titles are great – standouts include “The Pony Problem,” “Bring-Your-Machete-to-Work-Day” and of course “I Was Told There’d Be Cake.” Some of her essays are funny and insightful. I particularly liked “The Ursula Cookie” and “Sign Language for Infidels.”
Memoir writing is popular now, but there are pitfal...more
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4 comments
Read in May, 2008
recommended to Aaron by:
salon.comrecommends it for: Those wanting to learn to become more effectively self-referential
It's hard not to blame David Sedaris for Sloane Crosley. I mean to use "blame" lightly - I don't think Sloane Crosley is a thing anyone should necessary be sorry for, but by popularizing the whole "my family is weird in a way that is eccentric but essentially without serious conflict" genre of self-data mining, he's opened the door for people like Crosley to tell very similar stories about their OWN harmless strangeness.
I suppose this is essentially livejournal l...more
I suppose this is essentially livejournal l...more
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Read in April, 2008
I really liked this book. More than I expected and more than is justified by the quality of the writing or the stories. The bottom line is that this is a book about twenty-something girls who grew up in the suburbs and live in New York - and I like that (much as I like myself). It also probably marks the first time I've read a book that described someone's childhood and realized, by the shock of recognition, that it occurred during the same time as my own (Crosley is five years older than me)...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Cherie by:
read about an author readingrecommends it for: people who love funny essays
The comparison on the cover to Vowell and Sedaris is hyperbole. Just because she lives in NYC and writes funny essays does not make her as good as they are.
The essays are funny, but not hilarious. The essay about being a bridesmaid was something to which I could relate in some ways. But overall, she just seemed like every other middle class suburbanite who moves to NYC after college to work in publishing. They get jaded, they feel superior because they've read a lot of classic lit...more
The essays are funny, but not hilarious. The essay about being a bridesmaid was something to which I could relate in some ways. But overall, she just seemed like every other middle class suburbanite who moves to NYC after college to work in publishing. They get jaded, they feel superior because they've read a lot of classic lit...more
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Read in April, 2008
It's always fun to find a book where you go, I wish i were friends with this author. She has a dry sense of humor, but like this morning on the train, laugh out loud moments as well. In a chapter on her nerdy Oregon Trail phase, "Like a precursor to the Sims, you were allowed to name your wagoneers and manipulate their destinies. It didn't take me long to employ my powers for evil. I would load up the wagon with people I loathed, like my math teacher. Then I would intentionally lose the...more
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I have to be honest, I'm usually pretty wary of women comedy writers. I'm sorry, okay, I've just seen way too many a girl wander down easy "Time of the Month Blvd." or "He's Not Calling Me Back Because He Likes Dudes Lane". Thankfully, Sloane Crosley steers clear of both. These essays are funny, cute (almost "Juno"-ishly, but not quite), and relatable. I was hooked by the end of the first essay and was reading page 8 to anyone who would listen (which made me realize...more
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Read in May, 2008
The nice thing about a collection of essays is that you can read one, put the book down, and come back to it later, and not really have to remember what you read before.
Even if I hadn't been stuck on a plane for 6 hours, I probably would have read most of Sloan Crosley's essays in one sitting. They're funny and a little sad, and easy to relate to. I couldn't put the book down, and frankly, I didn't want to.
Thanks Sloan Crosley, for making my six hour flight to Boston (...more
Even if I hadn't been stuck on a plane for 6 hours, I probably would have read most of Sloan Crosley's essays in one sitting. They're funny and a little sad, and easy to relate to. I couldn't put the book down, and frankly, I didn't want to.
Thanks Sloan Crosley, for making my six hour flight to Boston (...more