I Will Sparkle Like a Wealthy Woman’s Neck

CBR bingo entry 3 leads me to my “Birthday” space for Sloane Crosley, who turned 40 August 3rd this year.  (And yeah, she was gonna be my “so shiny!” entry but Ken Jennings was born in May and I don’t get that many books hot off the presses because I’m cheap, AND her debut was I Was Told There’d Be Cake, for pete’s sake, so I had to change her to my birthday square.  But I still liked how the title works with her tone; I’m not changing it, so there!)

If you write humorous essays in the 2000s you’re gonna get the inevitable comparisons to David Sedaris, but I feel like Crosley earned them with How Did You Get This Number and the aforementioned Cake. She’s dry, funny, witty, modern, and for lack of a better description, “NPR-y.” Which is why I bought this before it hit paperback.  I really loved her first two books.  I only just liked this one.

I really liked it, don’t get me wrong, but even Sedaris ran into Crosley’s issue – when you write creative non fiction, eventually you run out of significant past to write about, and not a whole lot of people can relate to your present as a famous author.  Her anecdotes are still amusing, but not quite as relatable.  And it’s not her fault that she’s an attractive, reasonably well off white lady dating in New York, but, well… I’ve heard these tales before.  Which is probably why her essay on freezing her eggs was the standout to me, I haven’t heard about the ins and outs of that a dozen times, much less humorously.  I’d love more like that, or about her cool teenage neighbor nemesis, and crosley is a delight to read, so I’ll definitely get her next book.  I might just wait for the paperback.