How Did You Get This Number

I thought I had posted about Sloane Crosley's first book (I Was Told There'd Be Cake), but I guess I'm mistaken.  In the vein of David Sedaris, Crosley has made a name for herself by composing books of short stories/essays.  I read her first book with reckless abandon because it was just so darn funny.  She's roughly my age, so I can relate to a lot of her references of cartoons and foods and the like.

I was pumped when her latest book, How Did You Get This Number, came out last year.  It took that long for me to be able to check it out of the library, but I'm glad I did.  There are stories about running into one of the 'mean girls' from her younger days, scoring some discounted homewares, and taking a solo international trip. 

While there was at least one good laugh for each story, it was nowhere near as endearing as her debut collection.  With that one, I could not put it down.  Nope.  Not at all.  This one was a bit less consuming, if you'll allow me to say so.  Well, of course you will.  I think that there was just less overall nostalgia in this book, to be honest, but it's still worth a read...after you get her first book.  Here's a notable passage from page 152:

"When your classmates move away, it seems impossible that they could ever come back.  As if the world's events since have happened to you but not to them.  It's the reason you can look at your middle-school yearbook and still see your peers.  But someone else's middle-school yearbook looks like a bunch of thirteen-year-olds."