It’s true that the above photo is of author Sloane Crosley eating a slice of pie. It’s true also that her debut collection of essays, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, includes one story loosely involving a tart but very little actual cake. Nonetheless, last Tuesday we had a pretty great discussion of the the 15 autobiographical stories and our impressions of Crosely herself over cake.

Thank you to everybody who made it out to Molly Malone’s, and especially to the select few who shared favorable reviews of the book. Yes, our discussion veered over and over again toward unflattering opinions of the author & her execution of the book’s essays. We did, however, agree that many topics were easy to relate to and that each story started with a “nugget”; the potential to be something great. So why so much negativity? Perhaps it’s because the hype was just too big. Crosley is continually compared to writers, humorists and satirists like David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell and Dorothy Parker, leaving her victim to the “Top Ten Most Abusively Blurbed Authors” as explained in this New York Magazine article.

To anybody that was on the fence about Crosley, her sense of humor or how authentic a New Yorker she really is, observe her witty banter in this recent interview/fluff piece from Vanity Fair. Or if you’d like to see how she responds to yet more author comparisons, give this interview from Gawker a quick read. If you’re willing and ready to give her essays another chance, pick up a copy of her most recent collection, How Did You Get This Number? at your local library. And if you’ve already decided that Slone Crosley doesn’t offer much to the literary canon, but is plenty young and attractive, you can always just find out What Sloane Wore.

Stay tuned for details about our upcoming selection, Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, and join us for a discussion of this classic work of satire at Molly Malone’s on July 26th.