Most Popular Books by Sloane Crosley

For readers of Jenny Lawson and Nora Ephron, a return to the hilarious and searingly personal essays she’s known for—from a writer David Sedaris calls "perfectly, relentlessly funny" Look Alive Out There is her third book of humorous personal essays, big and small. It takes the same wry sensibility and off-kilter etiquette of I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number and applies it to the meatier issues of adulthood. If How Did You Get This Number took the sensibility of I Was Told There’d Be Cake on the road, Look Alive Out There takes it into the future. It also features Crosley chasing a woman in a wheelchair and getting a massage with an epileptic dog. These stories are all about picking over the past, keeping the best bits, and moving on. Be it hunting down kangaroos, being hypnotized by the Rear Window–style spectacle of youth displayed by her rich teenage neighbors, staring down the barrel of the fertility gun, bonding with her porn-star uncle, playing herself on TV, crashing shivas, dealing with death and disease, befriending woodland weed dealers, or scaling active volcanoes—Crosley is your untrusty, more or less useless guide, who will keep you laughing without remorse and seeing the absurdity of our world with fresh eyes.

Hailed by David Sedaris as "perfectly, relentlessly funny" and by Colson Whitehead as "sardonic without being cruel, tender without being sentimental," from the author of the new collection Look Alive Out There. Wry, hilarious, and profoundly genuine, this debut collection of literary essays is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory. From despoiling an exhibit at the Natural History Museum to provoking the ire of her first boss to siccing the cops on her mysterious neighbor, Crosley can do no right despite the best of intentions -- or perhaps because of them. Together, these essays create a startlingly funny and revealing portrait of a complex and utterly recognizable character who aims for the stars but hits the ceiling, and the inimitable city that has helped shape who she is. I Was Told There''d Be Cake introduces a strikingly original voice, chronicling the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.

From the author of the sensational bestseller I Was Told There''d Be Cake comes a new book of personal essays brimming with all the charm and wit that have earned Sloane Crosley widespread acclaim, award nominations, and an ever-growing cadre of loyal fans. In Cake readers were introduced to the foibles of Crosley''s life in New York City-always teetering between the glamour of Manhattan parties, the indignity of entry-level work, and the special joy of suburban nostalgia-and to a literary voice that mixed Dorothy Parker with David Sedaris and became something all its own. Crosley still lives and works in New York City, but she''s no longer the newcomer for whom a trip beyond the Upper West Side is a big adventure. She can pack up her sensibility and takes us with her to Paris, to Portugal (having picked it by spinning a globe and putting down her finger, and finally falling in with a group of Portuguese clowns), and even to Alaska, where the "bear bells" on her fellow bridesmaids'' ponytails seemed silly until a grizzly cub dramatically intrudes. Meanwhile, back in New York, where new apartments beckon and taxi rides go awry, her sense of the city has become more layered, her relationships with friends and family more complicated. As always, Crosley''s voice is fueled by the perfect witticism, buoyant optimism, flair for drama, and easy charm in the face of minor suffering or potential drudgery. But in How Did You Get This Number it has also become increasingly sophisticated, quicker and sharper to the point, more complex and lasting in the emotions it explores. And yet, Crosley remains the unfailingly hilarious young Everywoman, healthily equipped with intelligence and poise to fend off any potential mundanity in maturity.

Hilariously insightful and delightfully suspenseful, Cult Classic is an original: a masterfully crafted tale of love, memory, morality, and mind control, as well as a fresh foray into the philosophy of romance. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR at the Washington Post, the BBC, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, and more! One night in New York City’s Chinatown, a woman is at a work reunion dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. And then another. And . . . another. Nothing is quite what it seems as the city becomes awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past. What would normally pass for coincidence becomes something far stranger as the recently engaged Lola must contend not only with the viability of her current relationship but with the fact that both her best friend and her former boss, a magazine editor turned mystical guru, might have an unhealthy investment in the outcome. Memories of the past swirl and converge in ways both comic and eerie, as Lola is forced to decide if she will surrender herself to the conspiring of one very contemporary cult. Is it possible to have a happy ending in an age when the past is ever at your fingertips and sanity is for sale? With her gimlet eye, Sloane Crosley spins a wry literary fantasy that is equal parts page-turner and poignant portrayal of alienation.

The Clasp is a story of friends struggling to fit together now that their lives haven''t gone as planned, of how to separate the real from the fake.

Lee Child''s street corner. Gary Shteyngart''s bed. Joyce Carol Oates''s classroom. Roxane Gay''s dream house. Billy Collins''s New York City. Aimee Mann and Jonathan Coulton''s kitchen. Valeria Luiselli''s writing desk. Sloane Crosley''s conference call. Alain Mabanckou''s Department of Human Resources. Jonathan Ames''s shrink''s office. Jonathan Safran Foer''s Genius Bar. Joshua Ferris''s America.What do these places have in common? More than might initially meet the eye. They''re the spaces¿real or imagined¿where thirteen remarkably talented and original voices do their work. These writers, poets, and singer-songwriters come together to give us a guided tour through the places that inspire them. There''s mystery here. Dark confessions. Office crushes. Tales of deals made, careers built and broken, and the love and dread and hope of being at work.Everyone works someplace. This group of authors has created a place that is by turns hilarious, illuminating, shocking, wonderful. It might make you cry. It will certainly make you laugh. And you might never see your own office in the same (fluorescent?) light again.

"Welcome to Sad Stuff on the Street: The Book! With submissions from around the globe and visitors from 101 countries, this humble little blog has become the world''s preeminent hub for melancholy detritus. For years, we''ve specialized in doll heads, board game parts, and discarded birthday cakes. You''ve brought us your tired, your poor, your single shoes. And now comes a physical version of this universe of meaningful trash, designed by the legendary Todd Oldham. 100% of proceeds from this book will go to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. We hope you like it! -- Sloane and Greg" -- http://sadstuffonthestreet.com/bo

Romance, mistério e humor na dosagem certa. Kezia, Nathaniel e Victor se reencontram para o casamento extravagante de uma amiga dos tempos de faculdade. Prestes a completar trinta anos, todos eles estão completamente absortos em suas próprias vidas — Kezia é braço direito de uma designer de joias enlouquecida de Manhattan; Nathaniel, que sempre foi o cara cool da literatura, agora tenta vender seu trabalho em Hollywood; e Victor, o mais pessimista do grupo, acaba de ser demitido do emprego. Não demora muito para que o trio volte a desempenhar seus antigos papéis: Victor ama Kezia. Kezia ama Nathaniel. Nathaniel ama Nathaniel. Em meio à festa de casamento, Victor desmaia no quarto da mãe do noivo. Ao acordá-lo, em vez de lhe dar uma bronca, ela revela uma história que nunca havia contado nem mesmo ao próprio filho, sobre um colar valioso que desapareceu durante a ocupação nazista da França. A partir daí, uma inusitada aventura tem início, conduzindo Victor, Kezia e Nathaniel de Miami para Nova York, e de Los Angeles para Paris e toda a França, até desembocar na propriedade de Guy de Maupassant, autor do conto clássico "O colar". Repleto de suspense e narrado com a voz sincera e perspicaz de Sloane Crosley, O fecho é uma história magistral de amigos lutando para se ajustarem em vidas diferentes daquelas com que haviam sonhado, e de como separar o que é real do que é falso. Tal tarefa é possível quando se trata de pedras preciosas, mas é muito mais difícil de ser realizada com seres humanos.

Una treintañera neoyorquina reflexiona sobre los “grandes temas” esenciales en unos textos ágiles y llenos de irreverente ironía, que suponen un verdadero retrato generacional. Su prosa chispeante revela el lado más insólito de todas las situaciones y plantea una aproximación, entre el análisis y el absurdo, al mundo contemporáneo.