Crosley's easy, charming voice in the face of minor suffering or potential drudgery has been described as a mix between Dorothy Parker and David Sedaris. In these hilarious and insightful essays, she packs up her sensibility and takes readers with her to Paris, to Portugal (where she falls in with a group of Portuguese clowns), and to Alaska (where she discovers wearing bear bells is a matter of self-defense). Then it's back to New York, where new...

The characteristic heart and punch-packing observations are back, but with a newfound coat of maturity. A thin coat. More of a blazer, really. Fans of I Was Told There'd Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number know Sloane Crosley's life as a series of relatable but madcap misadventures. In Look Alive Out There, whether it's scaling active volcanoes, crashing shivas, playing herself on Gossip Girl, befriending swingers, or squinting down the barrel...