Sunday, March 28, 2010

I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays, by Sloane Crosley


For this post, I am revisiting one of my favorite books of the last couple of years, I Was Told There's Be Cake. This is a collection of essays by Sloane Crosley.

I can not even begin to tell you how much I love this book. Why? Because it makes me want to be a writer. For several years, I tooled around on my myspace page, writing blogs full of snarky humor and sometimes vitriol, much to the pleasure and excitement of my friends. People often told me I should write a book, and I always thought, how successful could a book of ridiculous stories about the life of a girl be? Sloane adeptly answered my question.

I saw so much of myself in Sloane. She hates weddings, I hate weddings, she loves Oregon Trail, I love Oregon Trail, well at least the Facebook version. I even have a friend who had a friend use her kitchen wastebasket as a toilet (if you read the book, you will understand the4 relevance of this statement). But it was more than that....I wanted to be Sloane. She is just that cool.

She has sharp wit, and just enough self deprecating humor to make you feel ok about laughing at her. Because you know that what you are really doing is laughing at yourself.

She has a fantastically engaging web site, where she actually turned some of her essays into fantastic dioramas, which you can see here.

I think reading this book all those months ago planted the seed that landed me here, writing this blog, along with my other two (to be found here and here). Sloane, in all her, well, sloane-ness, inspires me to bare my soul, even if it means being laughed at, or rejected.

I am thrilled to learn that she has a new book coming out this June. That gives all of you plenty of time to read this one, and pre-order her new one. Look for it to be reviewed later this summer.

So, thank you Sloane, for the poinies, and Christmas in July, and Oregon Trail, and the most amusing take on one night stands I have ever read (it's not what you think people, but you have to read the book to find out!).

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