Nonfiction Review: Why We Read

Every spring, my mom and I attend Booktopia, a weekend book event held at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT, where readers and about eight authors talk books, hang out together, share meals, play a rollicking game of book trivia, and more. This year, this unique event is being held the last weekend in April (tickets still available; my recap/vlog from Booktopia 2023). My first book read for Booktopia 2024 was Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out by Shannon Reed, a very entertaining nonfiction/memoir perfect for any book lover.

Each chapter aims to answer the title question, with some expected chapter titles like To Learn About (and From) the Past and Because We Had To and To Feel Less Alone. But she also has some surprising chapters like To Break the Rules and Because I Wanted Free Pizza. Interspersed with these essay-like Why chapters are some fun lists like How I Choose a Book: A Thirteen-Step Guide and Signs You May Be a Character in a Popular Children's Book. Throughout the book, Shannon shares details of her own reading life, from her grandmother teaching her to read at age two (!) to her childhood and adolescence as an avid reader to some of her adult experiences reading. Shannon is also a teacher, so she shares fascinating stories of teaching English and Literature to high school students and her current role as a Creative Writing and Literature professor at a university. In every chapter, there is enough book name-dropping to make your To-Be-Read list burst, though many of the books she talks about are comfortingly familiar to any avid reader. Best of all, from my point of view, is Shannon's wonderful sense of humor that runs through every page.

This was definitely a book that I could relate to! Shannon's stories and memories often had me nodding along or laughing out loud. Her different perspectives, as both a reader and a teacher of literature, were always intriguing. Reading this book made me feel like Shannon was a friend--certainly, at least someone with whom I share a common passion. I can't wait to meet her at Booktopia! I very much enjoyed this hilarious, informative, and comforting journey through books and reading. And yes, don't worry--there is a lengthy list of books mentioned at the end.

329 pages, Hanover Square Press

Harlequin Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Nonfiction Reader Challenge - category: Published in 2024

Literary Escapes Challenge - Pennsylvania
 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 
  

Nonfiction Review: Walden

This spring, I read Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau by Ben Shattuck, a beautifully-written memoir about the author taking six walks (really, five walks and one canoe trip) that Thoreau described in his books and journals. The memoir included excerpts of Thoreau's writing, and that inspired me to finally read Thoreau for myself. Walden by Henry David Thoreau was my first book read for Nonfiction November, and while it was a bit of a rocky start, I ended up enjoying this chronicle of his time spent in an isolated cabin he built himself, on the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts.

Walden begins with a 73-page chapter titled Economy, in which he explains why he wrote the book. Unfortunately, he goes on to complain, criticize, and ... well, rant about the "modern" ways of living in general and how people wouldn't need to spend their lives earning money if they would just stop buying so much unnecessary stuff (my husband's new favorite word is frippery). He's got a point, but I was relieved when that very long chapter finally ended, and he moved onto his time actually living in the cabin at Walden. As I had hoped, he beautifully describes how he immersed himself in the natural world. He talks about how he spent his time, what it was like to live in the small, rustic cabin (he lived there for two years but condensed the narrative into a single year), and his detailed observations of nature. He portrays every aspect of the natural world: the trees and plants, the pond itself, and birds, animals, and insects living around and with him. His narrative moves through each season of a year, sharing how this small ecosystem around him changed and the varying beauty in the different seasons. In one chapter, his very apt descriptions of the bizarre way a squirrel moves had me laughing out loud and reading the section to my husband.

As I mentioned, in that first section--and occasionally in later chapters--Thoreau gets wrapped up in criticizing the way others live. He comes across as arrogant and privileged in those parts (clearly, he himself has never actually been poor or had any real responsibilities). Thankfully, the rest of the book, about three-quarters of it, were as I had hoped, with beautiful nature writing and in-depth observations of the natural world. I love the outdoors and have myself experienced many times the sense of peace and joy that come from being immersed in nature, so I could relate to his experiences living at Walden. In fact, I read part of this book while camping, sitting outside with my book in the woods, overlooking a small lake; I highly recommend reading this outdoors if you can. I loved his descriptions of the seasonal changes, the sights and sounds of nature, and his experience of solitude. My book is filled with dog-eared pages of beautiful passages I wanted to come back to. His writing--about nature and about simple living--often touched me and made me think. I loved this description of the changing colors in fall:

"Already, by the first of September, I had seen two or three small maples turned scarlet across the pond, beneath where the white stems of three aspens diverged, at the point of a promontory, next the water. Ah, many a tale their color told! And gradually from week to week the character of each tree came out, and it admired itself reflected in the smooth mirror of the lake. Each morning the manager of this gallery substituted some new picture, distinguished by more brilliant or harmonious coloring, for the old upon the walls."

I read another short passage about fall in one of my Friday Reads videos, if you want to listen. It's a dense book that took me two weeks to read, but I thoroughly enjoyed most of it and am glad to have finally experienced Thoreau for myself. If you'd like a taste of his writing in a much shorter book that is delightful on its own, I recommend Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau by Ben Shattuck. Or just skip over the ranty bits in Walden and immerse yourself in the beauty of Thoreau's Walden Pond.

384 pages, Clydesdale Classics

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Back to the Classics - Classic set in a place you'd like to visit

Nonfiction Reader Challenge

Fall Into Reading Challenge - Classic

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, from the beginning of the books as he described why he wrote it, and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

     

 

 

Or you can order Walden from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

 

Nonfiction Review: These Precious Days

I usually try to write my reviews in the order I read the books, so according to that rule, I should be writing about another (very good) book, but I just finished listening to These Precious Days by Ann Patchett yesterday on audio, and I couldn't wait to tell you about this warm, funny, moving collection of personal essays by the renowned novelist.

Ann has put together a wonderful collection of personal essays, written at different points during her writing career. Some were previously published (there's even one that was a talk she gave), but she says that most were revised and updated for this collection. While the topics sort of jump around, as a whole they cover her entire life, from childhood to unsure young adult to author to bookstore owner. It's difficult to review such a varied group of essays, so I will highlight some of my favorites. In the first essay in the book, Three Fathers, Ann describes her biological father, her stepfather as a child, and her second stepfather when she was an adult. She talks about what makes each of them special and unique and delves into her relationships with each of them. Either here or later in the book, she also describes the end of each of their lives and her role. All of her father writing was very moving to me, as I lost my dad seven years ago and helped my father-in-law the past few years during his slow and difficult decline. 

But, I don't want you to think this is a depressing book. Certainly, Ann tackles some difficult topics--including death--with honesty and openness, but the collection is a lot of fun, too. She has a wonderful sense of humor, which comes across in many of her essays, including To the Doghouse, where she writes about how she was a Peanuts-obsessed child and how Snoopy was her greatest influence in wanting to become a writer. Beside the amusement of listening to this delightful essay, I could so relate to it, as a fellow Peanuts-ophile who read all the books and had Snoopy everything as a kid (I still wear a Snoopy watch!). Similarly, her descriptions of discovering Kate DiCamillo's magical books as an adult were pure pleasure that had me smiling ear-to-ear as I listened. The heart of this collection, though, is its title essay, These Precious Days, that recounts the bizarre chain of events that led her to a life-changing friendship with a woman. Sookie worked as Tom Hanks' assistant, and--through a series of events I will leave you to discover yourself--she ended up living with Ann and her husband in Nashville during the pandemic while undergoing cancer treatments. Ann writes about Sookie and the strange course of their relationship in a loving, tender way. In all, there are 22 essays here, and each one is unique and wonderful in its own way.

I loved every moment of this book! The essays are each very different, yet linked together in a way that paints a picture of Ann and her life, and the people she loves. She is very close to my own age, so there was a lot I could relate to in her memories of childhood and her relationships with her parents. But, I was also fascinated by the inside look into her life as a famous author and bookstore owner (I must get to Parnassus Books!). I wish I could share some quotes or excerpts with you, but that is one downside of listening to an audio book. However, I would definitely recommend listening to this book on audio, hearing these beautiful stories told directly by Ann (listen to a sample from the introduction). I always enjoy listening to memoirs read by the author, but this one is extra-special. I am, though, thinking of also getting the print copy of this book because I think this is one I will want to return to. This wonderfully-written collection of essays is moving, funny, heartfelt, and powerful. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

336 pages, Harper Perennial

HarperAudio

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

2022 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

Literary Escapes - Tennessee

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, read by Ann Patchett, from the introduction, and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

     

 

Or you can order These Precious Days from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Memoir Review: Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau

Booktopia 2022 is quickly approaching (click Events for more info; my recap of Booktopia 2019), and I am continuing to read the new releases from the authors who will be there for the weekend. Last month, I read a memoir,  Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau, by Ben Shattuck. This unique nonfiction book is filled with nature, beautiful outdoor writing, and the kind of introspection I love in memoirs.

The author began retracing some of Thoreau's walks spontaneously during a low point in his life. He set out to walk the coast of Cape Cod, wholly unprepared and poorly equipped, on a whim (it felt a bit like Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods at that point!). But he met some fascinating people, saw some amazing sights, and came out of that walk a little bit better in mind and body, so he continued his mission. He based the six walks on both the published books and essays written by Thoreau and also on Thoreau's personal journals (which I guess have been published). As often as possible, he tried to re-experience the exact same places in similar ways to Thoreau, though of course our modern world has changed things quite a bit. Besides two walks along Cape Cod (along the inner and outer shores), he also ventures up a mountain in Massachusetts, along the MA/RI coast starting from his own home in the salt marshes where his family has lived for generations, up Mount Katahdin in Maine's Baxter State Park (the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail), and canoeing with a friend in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in northern Maine, to the exact island where Thoreau and his colleagues camped on his own canoe trip there. Throughout the book, Shattuck shares his most intimate thoughts and feelings, as well as his observations of nature, and quotes from Thoreau himself. The result is both an emotional and physical journey.

From Thoreau, on how walking echoes life, quoted in the book:

"There is, however, this consolation to the most wayworn traveler, upon the dustiest road, that the path his feet describe is so perfectly symbolical of human life,--now climbing the hills, now descending into the vales. From the summits he beholds the heavens and the horizon, from the vales he looks up to the heights again. He is treading his old lessons still, and though he may be very weary and travel-worn, it is yet sincere experience."

From Shattuck, comparing nature to life:

"Grief and joy are in the same life, but it's only in the forest where you notice the shafts of sunlight spilling through."

As someone who loves nature, loves walking (as much as I am able), and has visited Cape Cod and Maine (one of my favorite places), I thoroughly enjoyed taking this journey with Shattuck. His nature writing is lyrical, bringing the forests, lakes, and coastlines to life on the page. I'm embarrassed to admit I have never read any Thoreau (I plan to rectify that), so I also enjoyed reading these passages from his many writings. And I could appreciate the healing power of nature and the author's own personal journey in this book. He accompanies this lovely writing with his own sketches, which were so beautiful that I ordered a hardcover copy of the book, even though I've already read an ARC on my Kindle. All of these elements come together in a beautifully written memoir that combines nature, travel, literature, and personal experience. I can't wait to meet Ben Shattuck at Booktopia in a few weeks!

175 pages, Tin House Books

Audio: Blackstone Publishing

PLEASE NOTE: Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau will be released on April 19, 2022.

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

Nonfiction Readers Challenge (category Wild Animals)

Literary Escapes Challenge - Maine 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. There is an audiobook, narrated by actor Jonathan Todd Ross. I'm guessing the audio sample will be posted on the book's publication date.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    

 

Or you can order Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Nonfiction Review: The Souls of Black Folk

For Nonfiction November, even my audiobooks were nonfiction! I listened to The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, a historical and literary classic written in 1903 that I got free last summer from SYNC. It's a very thoughtful collection of essays that provides a glimpse into history from the perspective of African Americans.

Du Bois was an African-American man who graduated from Harvard in 1895, a feat in itself at that time and the first Black man to do so, and was a renowned historian and sociologist. This famous tome both shares some of Du Bois' personal experiences and reviews a portion of U.S. history with respect to African-Americans. It's a collection of 15 essays he wrote during his illustrious career; he helped to create the field of sociology. His historical essays cover periods from post-Civil War era to his own present, laying bare the truths of racism. Du Bois' famous line, "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," was written over a century ago but still feels relevant. Some of the essays are more personal, sharing stories of his childhood, as an intelligent Black boy who struggled to get the education he wanted, struggled to fit in when he did go on to further education, and struggled even more to fit into his community when he returned home. He also shares stories of working as a teacher to poor Black children as a new college graduate and of his later tragic experiences in fatherhood.

Coincidentally, at the same time I was listening to The Souls of Black Folk, I was also reading White Trash by Nancy Isenberg in print. This meant I was reading/hearing about the same periods of history--for instance, the post-Civil War era--from two different perspectives: that of Blacks, both freemen and freed slaves, and of poor, rural whites. It was fascinating to fit these different points of view together, as all are a far different story of U.S. history than what I learned in school! I especially liked DuBois' personal essays, sharing his own first-person experiences and providing an intimate historical perspective. I enjoyed this collection very much and learned a lot, and it feels especially important to read it at this moment in time.

Blackstone Audio

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. This is a different narrator than the one I listened to, but it is from the same audio production company.

 

You can purchase The Souls of Black Folk from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

 

You can also buy through indie bookstores using Bookshop.

 

 

Or you can order The Souls of Black Folk from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

 

Nonfiction Review: Greek to Me

One of the selections for Booktopia 2020 (now a series of virtual author events--you can join in, too!) was Greek to Me by Mary Norris, a writer for The New Yorker. This combination of memoir, essays, and travelogue is an interesting exploration of Greek language, customs, history, and geography.

The author begins by describing how she developed a love for all things Greek and began learning the Greek language by taking classes while working for The New Yorker. She delves into the history of both the Greek and English alphabets and how one influenced the other (my college sorority experience came in handy), which I found surprisingly fascinating. Much of the book covers her many trips to the Greek isles, describing a geography and culture completely unfamiliar to me (though I love the food!). In between her travels to Greece, she continues to study both classical literature and the Greek language, so her descriptions of the places she visits include plenty of history, literature, and mythology references. These are not your typical vacations to fancy Greek resorts or tourist areas but intricate investigations into Greek culture and history. She often travels alone--apparently a rarity for women in Greece. Here, she describes why she prefers to travel solo and what benefits it brings:

"When you travel alone, you are forced to engage with people. Otherwise, you're stuck with whatever random song was running in your head when you woke up--the theme from Mister Ed, say, or Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini. When you're with someone from home, it is too easy to stay comfortable, in your own idiom and daily regimen and character. You never have the feeling of alienation that is so formative to an experience in a strange place. Living in Greek was a relief from my interior monologue. Because my Greek was limited, I concentrated on saying only things that were direct and essential. There was no place for small talk. Back at home, I was terrible at small talk. In the Mediterranean, no one knew that. I could make myself up as I went along."

I struggled with this book a bit at first but ultimately enjoyed it and am glad I read it. I have always wanted to visit Greece, so I was curious about the travel aspects of the memoir. I have to admit, though, that many of her frequent references to classic literature and mythology were completely unfamiliar to me. I know many people who find mythology fascinating (including my son), but I've just never been very interested in it. Since I don't share the author's obsessions in these subjects, some passages were a bit slow or boring to me. And I was completely lost with all her New Yorker name-dropping. I can see, though, that those who are interested in classic literature, mythology, and Greek history would be fascinated by her deep dive (and the outstanding reviews for this book reflect that). Overall, though, there was plenty here that I enjoyed, particularly in the second half of the book, which focuses more on her travels. And I definitely want to visit Greece! The author will be talking and answering questions tonight at 5 pm online through Northshire Bookstore, and I look forward to hearing her speak.

222 pages, W.W. Norton & Company

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audiobook, read by the author, here and/or download it from Audible. I always enjoy hearing memoirs read by the author.

You can purchase Greek to Me from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

You can also buythrough indie bookstores using Bookshop.

  

Or you can order Greek to Me from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Nonfiction Review: Gift From the Sea

In 1990, one of my closest childhood friends gave me the modern classic Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, with a lovely inscription in the front cover. I recently reread the slim book (my third time) and found the lyrical writing and insightful thoughts more resonant than ever.

Lindbergh wrote this small but powerful book during a brief writing retreat at the beach, some rare time for herself in the midst of a busy life as wife and mother. She began it as a journal to herself, thinking that no one else would be able to relate to her very personal musings. She was, of course, very wrong, as this book has remained popular and in print since its publication in 1955, speaking especially poignantly to women of a certain age. In eight chapters, she examines different types of shells that she finds on the beach and compares each one to an aspect of her life, for example, the channeled whelk as an empty home for various sea creatures, with musings about her own "shell." Or an ever-expanding oyster bed as a metaphor for women's lives in the "middle years of marriage," growing unwieldy and continuing to add on new pieces. Each chapter is written in beautiful language that expresses her deepest feelings, as a wife, mother, writer, and woman on topics of peace, balance, purpose, and more. I loved both her insights and her sense of humor in this passage:

"With a new awareness, both painful and humorous, I begin to understand why the saints were rarely married women. I am convinced it has nothing inherently to do, as I once supposed, with chastity or children. It has to do primarily with distractions. The bearing, rearing, feeding, and educating of children; the running of a house with its thousand details; human relationships with their myriad pulls - woman's normal occupations in general run counter to creative life, or contemplative life, or saintly life. The problem is not merely one of Woman and Career, Woman and the Home, Woman and Independence. It is more basically: how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain balanced, no matter what centrifugal forces tend to pull one off center; how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come in at the periphery and tend to crack the hub of the wheel."

Despite having read the book twice before, I felt like I was discovering it for the first time and could relate deeply to many of Lindbergh's thoughts and feelings, perhaps because I am now closer to the age (a bit beyond it!) that she was when she wrote it, in the midst of family, home, and a writing career. I found that far from being dated, her words written in 1955 are eerily relevant to our modern life in 2018, as here:

"For life today in America is based on the premise of ever-widening circles of contact and communication. It involves not only family demands, but community demands, national demands, international demands on the good citizen, through social and cultural pressures, through newspapers, magazines, radio programs, political drives, charitable appeals, and so on. My mind reels with it. What a circus act we women perform every day of our lives. It puts the trapeze artist to shame. Look at us. We run a tight rope daily, balancing a pile of books on the head. Baby carriage, parasol, kitchen chair, still under control. Steady now!"

Her words apply perfectly to our harried lives today, with social media and the 24-hour news cycle (can you imagine what she'd think of all this?). I could fill pages quoting passages in this review - she shares shrewd, intuitive thoughts on almost every page of the book. It will takes me hours to write all the passages I marked in my Quote Journal! As I envied her two weeks alone at the beach, I inwardly cheered for every page, thinking, "Yes! That's it exactly!" It's amazing that this slim book is so relevant and moving more than 60 years after it was written. As with my friend's thoughtfulness toward me, this timeless book would make a perfect gift for any woman in your life.

138 pages, Vintage Books
Random House Audio

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Though my copy is a 20th anniversary edition,  the version now being sold is a 50th anniversary edition, with a new introduction written by the author's daughter.

Listen to a sample of the audio book. 

Purchase Gift From the Sea from an indie bookstore, either locally or online, here:

 

Or order Gift From the Sea from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Nonfiction Review: Look Alive Out There: Essays

Ever since the 2008 release of her best-selling collection of essays, I Was Told There'd Be Cake, I've been wanting to read some of Sloane Crosley's work. I'd heard rave reviews online, on podcasts, and from friends. So, I was excited to listen to her latest essay collection, Look Alive Out There, on audio last month, read by the author. I so enjoyed her warm, witty writing that covers everything from the trivial to the deeply moving.

Crosley's book includes 16 essays, some under two pages long and some continuing for more than 20 pages. Each one is an acute observation of an ordinary moment (or more) in time. Topics are far-ranging, from the time she attended the wrong shiva (and didn't admit it to the hosting family!) to her cameo on an episode of Gossip Girl that didn't quite meet her expectations. Some of her essays are about amusing or annoying brief episodes in her life, like Right Aid, about sharing a birthday with the clerk at her local drugstore or The Chupacabra about the surreal moment when she was receiving a massage and the masseuse's dog had a seizure in front of her. A few essays are truly jaw-dropping (though true) and based on articles she wrote for magazines, like Up the Down Volcano, about her misadventure trying to climb a 20,000-foot active volcano in Ecuador with no preparation or Relative Stranger, her interview with a second cousin who was a major porn star. And a couple of her essays really delve into deeply personal stories, like Cinema of the Confined, about developing a chronic illness (that one really spoke to me, and I plan to listen to it again) or dealing with fertility issues in The Doctor Is a Woman, though her ever-present sense of humor keeps even these from becoming too dark. Here's a brief excerpt of the first few sentences of her first essay, Wheels Up, to give you an idea of her unique style and tone:

"I am running late for the airport, trying to catch a cab on my street corner. A woman in a wheelchair and her date, a man, arrive at the corner seconds after me. They pretend not to see me, and I pretend not to see them, which is the kind of cutthroat strategy New Yorkers employ when embarking on otherwise benign activities. It's partially to avoid conflict and partially to claim innocence in the event of the finger."

Crosley has a talent for telling a story with warmth and wit and for zeroing in on details that we can all relate to, even if our experiences are vastly different than hers. Listening to her read these essays feels like sitting with a friend - a very funny friend - over coffee, while she regales you with her latest escapades. I enjoyed every single essay in the collection and listened to the entire book in just a few days, and she left me wanting more. Now that I've experienced Sloane Crosley's writing talents, I will definitely be looking for her other essay collections and her magazine articles, too.

256 pages, MCD
Macmillan Audio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audio book from the essay Outside Voices, read by the author, or request the book from Audible.

Purchase Look Alive Out There from an indie bookstore, either online or locally, here:


Or order Look Alive Out There from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.