Essays from a local New Yorker who has the quirkiest and strangest life experiences to have ever hit a page find themselves collected and bound in I Was Told There’d be Cake.  Sloane Crosley has written essays for New York Times, Village Voice, and Salon.  Released last April 2008, I Was Told There’d be Cake is a lovable compilation of stories ranging from Sloane’s odd collection of  plastic pony’s to baking a cake in the shape of her boss’ face.  Her voice in the book is said to feel a little like David Sedaris, Carrie Bradshaw, and Dorothy Parker, but the best part about this little piece of literary brilliance is its Sloane Crosley’s.  Keep your eye out for this woman, with a debut book this good I can hardly wait for what the future brings.  Grab I was Told there’d be Cake at your nearest bookshop because your collection won’t be complete without it.

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Tags: april 2008, carrie bradshaw, David Sedaris, dorothy parker, essays, i was told thered be cake, Literature, New York, new york times, nonfiction, salon, sloane crosley, village voice

A Man Without A Country is a smart and satisfying collection of short essays by the ever loved and revered Kurt Vonnegut.  Known for his works of satire and black comedy, Vonnegut never disappoints.  In this 2005 compilation, subjects vary from art to war and back to art again saying, “the arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable… it’s a way to make your soul grow… you’ll get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”  This creation was intended by Vonnegut to be his final work, and until after his death in April 2007, when a number of his unpublished works were assembled into Armageddon in Retrospect, it was. Kurt Vonnegut wished for the world that, “100 years from now people are still laughing.”  With your works, Mr. Vonnegut, they just might be.

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Tags: A Man Without A Country, Armageddon in Retrospect, Art, black comedy, books, essays, Kurt Vonnegut, life, Literature, reading, satire, short essays, war, world