Sloane Crosley

Welcome back, Buzz Book Club readers! I can't believe this is the end of Sloane Crosley's I Was Told There'd Be Cake! I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on the last essays and your impressions of the book overall. Stay tuned next week for my announcement of the August selection.

Here's a recap of how the Book Club goes if you're new: Every week I'll suggest chapters to complete by the next post (which, in this case, has been every Friday in July). In these weekly Book Club posts, I'll posit a few questions to prompt discussion in the comments section.

To discuss the last section of I Was Told There'd Be Cake, in which we read the stories "The Height of Luxury," "Smell This," "Lay Like Broccoli," and "Fever Faker," read more

Welcome back Buzz Book Club readers! This week, we hit a section in Sloane Crosely's I Was Told There'd Be Cake that I think included one of her best stories of the whole book. But more on that in a moment.

Here's a recap of how the Book Club goes if you're new: Every week I'll suggest chapters to complete by the next post (which, in this case, will go up every Friday in July). In these weekly Book Club posts, I'll posit a few questions to prompt discussion in the comments section.

Of course, you are always welcome to read beyond the weekly chapters, but please don't spoil anything in the comments! After the jump you'll find some questions that struck me as I read this section.

The next assignment: Read to the end that includes the stories "The Height of Luxury," "Smell This," "Lay Like Broccoli," and "Fever Faker." We'll chat about this final section next Friday, July 25.

To discuss the third section of I Was Told There'd Be Cake, in which we read the stories: "Sign Language for Infidels" and "You on a Stick," read more

Welcome back Buzz Book Club readers! We're plugging along through Sloane Crosely's I Was Told There'd Be Cake, and there were many more moments in this week's stories that I laughed at and related to. At this point, I do think Crosley's got the goods — but perhaps with more life experience under her belt, her stories will be even more poignant.

Here's a recap of how the Book Club goes if you're new: Every week I'll suggest chapters to complete by the next post (which, in this case, will go up every Friday in July). In these weekly Book Club posts, I'll posit a few questions to prompt discussion in the comments section.

Of course, you are always welcome to read beyond the weekly chapters, but please don't spoil anything in the comments! After the jump you'll find some questions that struck me as I read this section.

The next assignment: Read the stories "Sign Language for Infidels" and "You on a Stick." We'll chat about this second section next Friday, July 18.

To discuss the second section of I Was Told There'd Be Cake, in which we read the stories: "The Good People of This Dimension," "Bastard out of Westchester," "The Beauty of Strangers," "F**k You, Columbus," and "One-Night Bounce," read more

Welcome back Buzz Book Club readers! How are you enjoying Sloane Crosely's I Was Told There'd Be Cake so far? I find her voice to be highly relatable, and I'm definitely guilty of snorting with laughter while reading her book in public. She's already given us a lot to talk about in this first section, that's for sure.

Here's a recap of how the Book Club goes if you're new: Every week I'll suggest chapters to complete by the next post (which, in this case, will go up every Friday in July). In these weekly Book Club posts, I'll posit a few questions to prompt discussion in the comments section.

Of course, you are always welcome to read beyond the weekly chapters, but please don't spoil anything in the comments! After the jump you'll find some questions that struck me as I read this section.

The next assignment: Read the stories "The Good People of This Dimension," "Bastard out of Westchester," "The Beauty of Strangers," "F**k You, Columbus," and "One-Night Bounce." We'll chat about this second section next Friday, July 11.

To discuss the first section of I Was Told There'd Be Cake in which we read the first four stories in the book ("The Pony Problem," "Christmas in July," "The Ursula Cookie," and "Bring-Your-Machete-to-Work Day.") read more

Hi there, Buzz Book Club readers! I know it's still June, but since we've wrapped up our discussion of Then We Came to the End and Fourth of July travel plans are looming, I wanted to give you a heads-up about the July book pick: Sloane Crosley's I Was Told There'd Be Cake.

The book, which is Crosley's debut collection of true-life essays, has been getting a lot of buzz in the literary world — and it's only building, as we learned this week that the book had been bought by HBO and could be turned into a TV series. Even friends of mine who I thought would be snarky about the book have loved it, so I'm curious to check it out for myself.

Crosley is a literary publicist in New York City, and she got her big break as a writer when she sent a funny e-mail about getting locked out of her apartment while moving to some friends — one of whom just happened to work for the Village Voice. She's since written for Salon and The New York Times, and this book collects 15 of her essays.

For those of you new to my book club format, here's how it works: I'll announce a new book each month. Every week I'll suggest chapters to complete by the next post (which, in this case, will go up every Friday in July). In these Book Club posts, I'll posit a few discussion-provoking questions for you to respond to in the comments section.

To read a little more about Crosley's book and get your first assignment, just read more

The buzz around I Was Told There'd Be Cake, publicist and author Sloane Crosley's collection of personal essays, isn't going to die down anytime soon: HBO has just bought the rights to turn the book into a series.

The essays cover a wide range of topics (Crosley locking herself out of her apartment repeatedly while moving, collecting plastic ponies, etc.), and it's not clear what direction the potential series would take. Crosley herself would only say that she could picture the project having "more of a 'Larry David' vibe than a Sex and the City vibe."

I haven't read Crosley's book yet — though sometimes it seems like I'm the last one in the world to do so! — and so I'm wondering: Have any of you read it? What did you think? And could you see it being good fodder for a potential TV series? The book's reviews have been positive in a "I want to hate her, but I just can't, so I'll love her instead" sort of way, and profiles of Crosley herself have bordered on fawning. Is she really that good? Hopefully my library will let me find out soon; in the meantime, though, what's your take?

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