How Did You Get This Number

A brand-new book of hilarious and insightful personal essays by the iconic, irresistible Sloane Crosley.

From the author of the sensational bestseller I Was Told There'd Be Cake comes a new book of personal essays brimming with all the charm and wit that have earned Sloane Crosley widespread acclaim, award nominations, and an ever-growing cadre of loyal fans. In Cake readers were introduced to the foibles of Crosley's life in New York City — always teetering between the glamour of Manhattan parties, the indignity of entry-level work, and the special joy of suburban nostalgia &dmash; and to a literary voice that mixed Dorothy Parker with David Sedaris and became something all its own.

Crosley still lives and works in New York City, but she's no longer the newcomer for whom a trip beyond the Upper West Side is a big adventure. She can pack up her sensibility and takes us with her to Paris, to Portugal (having picked it by spinning a globe and putting down her finger, and finally falling in with a group of Portuguese clowns), and even to Alaska, where the bear bells on her fellow bridesmaids' ponytails seemed silly until a grizzly cub dramatically intrudes. Meanwhile, back in New York, where new apartments beckon and taxi rides go awry, her sense of the city has become more layered, her relationships with friends and family more complicated.

As always, Crosley's voice is fueled by the perfect witticism, buoyant optimism, flair for drama, and easy charm in the face of minor suffering or potential drudgery. But in How Did You Get This Number it has also become increasingly sophisticated, quicker and sharper to the point, more complex and lasting in the emotions it explores. And yet, Crosley remains the unfailingly hilarious young Everywoman, healthily equipped with intelligence and poise to fend off any potential mundanity in maturity.

"Nine thoughtful, unfussy essays by the author of the collection I Was Told There'd Be Cake navigate around illusions of youth in the hope that by young adulthood they'll 'all add up to happiness.' The account of Crosley's footloose adventure to Lisbon on the eve of her 30th birthday starts things off in rollicking fashion in 'Show Me on the Doll': without proficient language skills, getting hopelessly lost in the labyrinth of Bairro Alto, and panicking in front of the myriad QVC channels offered by her hotel, Crosley recognizes that Lisbon 'was a place with a painfully disproportionate self-reflection-to-experience ratio.' There is the requisite essay about moving to New York and replacing her anorexic-kleptomaniac roommate with a more acceptable living arrangement: in Crosley's case, delineated in 'Take a Stab at It,' she is interviewed by the creepily disembodied current occupier of a famous former brothel on the Bowery, McGurk's Suicide Hall. As well, Crosley delivers witty, syncopated takes on visiting Alaska and Paris, and finding much consolation from a two-timing heartbreak in New York by buying stolen items from her 'upholstery guy,' Daryl, who found them fallen 'Off the Back of a Truck,' as the delightful last selection is titled. These essays are fresh, funny, and eager to be loved. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Confirmation of the promise shown in the author's bestselling debut." Kirkus Reviews

"Reading like the diary entries of a thirtysomething, Crosley's essays are brutally honest... [and] paint a realistic and hilarious portrait of what it's like to be an adult in today's world." Library Journal

"Smart, clever, and frank, Crosley's stories are as intimate, and embarrassingly eccentric, as the thoughts we keep to ourselves." Booklist (Starred Review)

From the author of the sensational bestseller I Was Told There'd Be Cake comes a new book of personal essays brimming with all the charm and wit that have earned Crosley widespread acclaim, award nominations, and an ever-growing cadre of loyal fans.

Sloane Crosley's essays and criticism have appeared in the New York Times, New York Observer, the Village Voice, Playboy, Teen Vogue, Salon, Black Book, Radar, Maxim, and the Believer. She is also the Associate Director of Publicity at Vintage/Anchor Books in New York.