“Now feels like a good a time as any to mention that I’ve never been skiing. In another collection, Crosley gets roped into a travel assignment that pushes her to heights she’s not prepared for. When Crosley - who is fed up with the couple for stealing her cab for no good reason - tries to explain who ran over the dog to its owner, pointing to the woman, a bystander is disgusted with Crosley saying “She’s in a wheelchair. The cab door closes and the woman wheels herself away, running over a dog’s tail in the process and not stopping to apologize when it yelps. The man (who isn’t handicapped) gets in and waves to his wife. Crosley groans a bit when she realizes that the next cab to pull up is a handicap cab, knowing she’ll have to let these people go ahead now and wait for another. The woman is handicapped and the man is accompanying her, suitcase in hand. Crosley is hurrying to catch a cab to go to the airport and catch a flight for one assignment or another, when a couple comes up to the curb next to her. And now that I’ve read it, I’m glad I started with this one.įrom the start, Crosley digs right into a scene most can relate to, even though it’s set on a quintessential New York City street.

Yet, the only Crosley book the store had was Look Alive Out There.

I’ve already read a few of those essays and found myself laughing aloud in the bookstore. When I first picked up this book, I was actually looking for Crosley’s first essay collection, which came out in 2008, I Was Told There’d Be Cake. Look Alive Out There is a hilarious and at times strikingly tender collection of essays written about life in New York City, inexperienced world traveling, and other odd experiences that writing has gotten her into. Sloane Crosley is this person, but in author form (and probably living a cooler life). Re-readability: I hope to come back to this collection at some point. “I think by now we can all agree that the foundation of world travel goes something like “Bring a cardigan.” Sloane Crosley

Look alive out there