Podcasts about look alive out there

SLOANE CROSLEY is the author of The New York Times bestselling books Grief Is for People, How Did You Get This Number, and I Was Told There'd Be Cake. She is also the author of Look Alive Out There and the novels, Cult Classic and The Clasp. Her work has been translated into ten languages. She has been featured in The Library of America's 50 Funniest American Writers, The Best American Non-required Reading, The Best American Travel Writing, Phillip Lopate's The Contemporary American Essay and others. A contributing editor at Vanity Fair, her work has appeared in various publications including The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue and The Guardian. She has been an adjunct professor in Columbia University's MFA program and a guest teacher at Dartmouth College and The Yale Writers' Workshop. Death is something we all experience. Myself included. Which is why I so loved this conversation with Sloane about life, love, loss, grief and whether we can ever truly achieve ‘closure'. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

A famed author and humorist takes a deep dive into grief (with Dr. Bianca Harris as co-host).Sloane Crosley is the author of The New York Times bestselling books Grief Is for People, How Did You Get This Number, and I Was Told There'd Be Cake. She is also the author of Look Alive Out There, Cult Classic and The Clasp, both of which have been optioned for film. She served as editor of The Best American Travel Writing series and is featured in The Library of America's 50 Funniest American Writers, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Phillip Lopate's The Contemporary American Essay and others. She was the inaugural columnist for The New York Times Op-Ed "Townies" series, a contributing editor at Interview Magazine, and a columnist for The Village Voice, Vanity Fair, The Independent, Black Book, Departures and The New York Observer. She is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. She has taught at Columbia University and The Yale Writers' Workshop.In this episode we talk about:A series of consecutive losses that Sloane enduredThe concept of cumulative grief Sloane's version of the five stages of griefHer beef with acceptanceBibliotherapy as a source of healingAnd much moreRelated Episodes:The Science Of Grief: What Helps, What Doesn't, And Why We Don't Talk About It Enough | Cody DelistratyHow To Talk To Yourself When Things Suck | Sam Sanders#450. The Science of Loss and Recovery | Mary-Frances O'ConnorSign up for Dan's newsletter hereFollow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTokTen Percent Happier online bookstoreSubscribe to our YouTube ChannelOur favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular EpisodesFull Shownotes: https://happierapp.com/podcast/tph/sloane-crosley-874Additional Resources:Download the Happier app today: https://my.happierapp.com/link/downloadAnxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief: A Revolutionary Approach to Understanding and Healing the Impact of LossAll My Puny SorrowsOtherwise: New & Selected Poems By Jane KenyonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

CW: Discussion of suicide  Abby and Glennon welcome New York Times bestselling author Sloane Crosley. Sloane shares her experience of losing her dear friend to suicide and the grief journey she went on in the aftermath. The conversation explores handling loss, the nuances of friendship, humor in the face of sorrow, and living in the present moment. Discover:  -Whether the desire to give meaning to a death helps or hurts the grieving process; -What NOT to say after someone dies by suicide and what might help;  -The place of humor in grief: when it's useful and when it's a coverup; and -The reason you have every right to deeply grieve a friend and the pain of grief hierarchies.  About Sloane:  Sloane Crosley is the New York Times bestselling author of the new memoir Grief Is for People; the novels Cult Classic and The Clasp; and three essay collections: Look Alive Out There, I Was Told There'd Be Cake, and How Did You Get This Number. She lives in New York City. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you ever lost something or someone dear to you? Though it ranges in severity and impact, loss is a shared human experience – an inevitable, inescapable part of life. Praised for her humor and sharp wit, essayist and novelist Sloane Crosley delivers her first memoir Grief is for People, exploring how loss can take many forms. After the pain and confusion of losing her closest friend Russell to suicide – which occurred only a month after also losing prized possessions and her sense of safety following a burglary – Crosley looks for answers, even where they may be elusive. She seeks solace not only in those close to her but in art and philosophy as well, hoping for a useful framework outside the oft-cited five stages of grief. Crosley's readership may not have seen this side of the author, but will nevertheless recognize those observations and examinations of the human condition interlaced with levity that popularized her earlier writings. Grief Is for People seeks to upend the traditional grief memoir and offer both consolation and challenge to standard conceptions of mourning. Crosley's talk is for anyone in a current time of sorrow or who has experienced a loss and might welcome a discussion beyond platitudes. Sloane Crosley is the author of the novels Cult Classic and The Clasp and three essay collections: Look Alive Out There and the New York Times bestsellers I Was Told There'd Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number. Benjamin Gibbard is a multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of Death Cab for Cutie, formed in 1997, and one half of the electronic duo The Postal Service. Gibbard released his debut solo album “Former Lives” in 2012, and he has scored two films. Gibbard is an avid ultra-marathon runner and a longtime resident of Seattle.   Buy the Companion Book Grief Is for People: A Memoir The Elliott Bay Book Company

''A fountain of observations'' (The Boston Globe), Sloane Crosley is the author of three New York Times bestselling essay collections, How Did You Get This Number, Look Alive Out There, and I Was Told There'd Be Cake, which was a finalist for the 2009 Thurber Prize for American Humor. Exploring various aspects of life's disappointments, morality, and modern love, her novels Cult Classic and The Clasp were named best books of the year by numerous publications. Crosley is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, a former editor of The Best American Travel Writing series, and her other work has appeared in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, The Village Voice, McSweeney's, Vice, and Smithsonian. In Grief Is for People, she offers an elegiac examination of loss in the aftermath of her close friend's death by suicide. Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU! (recorded 4/3/2024)

Sloane Crosley is the author of The New York Times bestselling essay collections, I Was Told There'd Be Cake, How Did You Get This Number, and Look Alive Out There and the bestselling novels, The Clasp and Cult Classic. She served as editor of The Best American Travel Writing series and is featured in The Library of America's 50 Funniest American Writers, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading and others. She is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Her new memoir is called Grief Is for People. We talked about structuring her memoir around the stages of grief, how she knew she was at the end of the book, being close to an event to write about it, that doctors have the best lines for writers to steal, observing the world, and how grief is not over just because the book is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I feel like the trick to writing about yourself is to not write about yourself. You are the sort of prism, or you know, the observational tank through which something is passing” – Sloane Crosley.From her much-loved essay collections, I Was Told There Would Be Cake, How Did You Get This Number and Look Alive Out There, to her bestselling novel, The Clasp, Sloane Crosley's acerbic humour and observational wit has garnered her critical and popular acclaim. Now, in her second novel Cult Classic, Crosley takes readers on a surreal journey through New York City as a woman runs into a former boyfriend, then another ex, and then another … until it seems all of Manhattan is filled with the ghosts of romance past. In this episode, Sloane Crosley joins host Jaclyn Crupi to discuss Cult Classic, modern romance, and whether happy endings are possible in an age when the past is ever at your fingertips. Sloane Crosley appeared in partnership with Adelaide Writers' Week and Sydney Opera House's All About Women festival. The event was supported by the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund, a Victorian Government and City of Melbourne partnership. This event was recorded on Thursday 9 March 2023 at the Wheeler Centre. The bookseller for this event was Hill of Content Bookshop. Featured music is Diffuser by Shiruky.Support the Wheeler Centre: https://www.wheelercentre.com/support-us/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

City Lights presents Sam Lipsyte reading from his new novel and in conversation with Sloane Crosley. Sam Lipsyte celebrates the publication of his novel “No One Left to Come Looking for You” by Simon & Schuster. This was a virtual event and was hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "No One Left to Come Looking for You" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/no-1-left-to-come-looking-for-you/ Sam Lipsyte is the author of the story collections “Venus Drive” and “The Fun Parts” and four novels: “Hark”, “The Ask” (a New York Times Notable Book), “The Subject Steve”, and “Home Land”, which was a New York Times Notable Book and received the Believer Book Award. His fiction has appeared in “The New Yorker”, “The Paris Review”, and “Best American Short Stories”, among other places. The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, he lives in New York City and teaches at Columbia University. Sloane Crosley is the author of The New York Times bestselling essay collections, “I Was Told There'd Be Cake” (a 2009 finalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor) and “How Did You Get This Number”, as well as “Look Alive Out There” (a 2019 finalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor) and the bestselling novel, “The Clasp”. She served as editor of The Best American Travel Writing series and is featured in The Library of America's 50 Funniest American Writers, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Phillip Lopate's "The Contemporary American Essay" and others. She is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Her new novel, “Cult Classic”, is out now. Her next nonfiction book, “Grief Is for People”, will be published in 2024. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

In Episode 118, Caroline Zancan, Senior Editor at Henry Holt, joins me for another episode in the Genre 101 series — this time with a twist.  Caroline answers behind-the-scenes questions about editing literary fiction, as well as a deep dive into the genre itself.   This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). Announcements I'd love your feedback on the podcast!  Please take a moment to complete my 2022 Podcast Survey! Highlights How Caroline got into editing: right place, right time, and Craigslist. The varying college degrees, the wide range of colleagues' previous careers, and whether there's a typical career path to becoming an editor. The je ne sais quoi factor and determining if a book is for Henry Holt. The entire process of book acquisition at Henry Holt — from determining what books to pursue and bidding on manuscripts to the approval process. Caroline's preference for dealing with an author's agent. The execution of a compatible vision for the editor-author relationship. The “right” length for a book and editing big-name authors. What the heck is ‘literary fiction' and why there seems to be a lack of consensus about this question. Current trends in the literary fiction world. Caroline's Book Recommendations [39:19] Two OLD Books She Loves Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders | Amazon | Bookshop.org [39:33] Trust Exercise by Susan Choi | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:25] Two NEW Books She Loves Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:33] Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:14] The Series of Books She DIDN'T Love Elena Ferrante Titles  [45:46] One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews (August 2, 2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:32] Last 5-Star Book Caroline Read Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:40] Other Books Mentioned We Wish You Luck by Caroline Zancan [2:00] Happiness by Heather Harpham [2:17] The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat [2:21] Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon [2:29] Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach [2:34] On Writing by Stephen King [29:08] Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett [40:48] I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley [44:58] Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley [45:00] About Caroline Zancan On Twitter Caroline Zancan is a Senior Editor at Holt, acquiring literary and upmarket fiction and memoir, and the author of We Wish You Luck and Local Girls. She is a graduate of Kenyon College and holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars.  Caroline lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their children. 

Sloane Crosley (I Was Told There'd Be Cake, How Did You Get This Number, The Clasp) talks to The Lambert Center's Jason Blitman about her latest novel, Cult Classic. Sloane and Jason chat about the book's themes, beautiful cover art, the word "supposably," and whether or not mezuzahs are found on interior doors of synagogues. Sloane Crosley is the author of the novel The Clasp and three essay collections: Look Alive Out There and the New York Times bestsellers I Was Told There'd Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number. A two-time finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, she lives in New York City To learn more about the JCC's arts programming, visit mmjccm.org/lambert

Sloane Crosley is the author of the novel The Clasp and the essay collections Look Alive Out There and the New York Times bestsellers I Was Told There'd Be Cake (a Thurber Prize finalist) and How Did You Get This Number. A frequent contributor to The New York Times, she lives in Manhattan. Her new novel is called Cult Classic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sloane Crosley is the author of the novel Cult Classic, available from MCD/FSG. Crosley is the author of The New York Times bestselling essay collections, I Was Told There'd Be Cake (a 2009 finalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor) and How Did You Get This Number, as well as Look Alive Out There (a 2019 finalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor) and the bestselling novel, The Clasp. She served as editor of The Best American Travel Writing series and is featured in The Library of America's 50 Funniest American Writers, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Phillip Lopate's The Contemporary American Essay and others. She was the inaugural columnist for The New York Times Op-Ed "Townies" series, a contributing editor at Interview Magazine, and a columnist for The Village Voice, Vanity Fair, The Independent, Black Book, Departures and The New York Observer. She is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Her next nonfiction book, Grief Is for People, will be published in 2023. She lives in New York City. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Etc. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch @otherppl Instagram  YouTube Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humorist Sloane Crosley is best known for her witty essay collections, such as I Was Told There'd Be Cake and Look Alive Out There, both finalists for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Her new book is a novel, Cult Classic—a mystery, romantic comedy, and conspiracy thriller rolled into one, with a sprinkling of mind control and A Christmas Carol for good measure. We first meet the novel's heroine, Lola, as she sneaks out of a dinner with friends in Manhattan's Chinatown for a cigarette and unexpectedly bumps into an ex-boyfriend. The next day, she runs into another one. Then another. What for many of us would merely seem like a bizarre series of uncomfortable encounters—or a personal nightmare—turns out to be something much stranger for Lola, who discovers that her very weird week has resulted from the machinations of a group that insists it's not a cult. Sloane Crosley joins us to talk about love, psychology, and her new novel, Cult Classic.Go beyond the episode:Sloane Crosley's Cult ClassicExplore her back catalogIn case you seek a novel about love gone wrong ... we have you covered with these 14 bad romancesTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you'd like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Humorist Sloane Crosley is best known for her witty essay collections, such as I Was Told There'd Be Cake and Look Alive Out There, both finalists for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Her new book is a novel, Cult Classic—a mystery, romantic comedy, and conspiracy thriller rolled into one, with a sprinkling of mind control and A Christmas Carol for good measure. We first meet the novel's heroine, Lola, as she sneaks out of a dinner with friends in Manhattan's Chinatown for a cigarette and unexpectedly bumps into an ex-boyfriend. The next day, she runs into another one. Then another. What for many of us would merely seem like a bizarre series of uncomfortable encounters—or a personal nightmare—turns out to be something much stranger for Lola, who discovers that her very weird week has resulted from the machinations of a group that insists it's not a cult. Sloane Crosley joins us to talk about love, psychology, and her new novel, Cult Classic.Go beyond the episode:Sloane Crosley's Cult ClassicExplore her back catalogIn case you seek a novel about love gone wrong ... we have you covered with these 14 bad romancesTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you'd like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

First Draft Episode #202: D.C. Pierson D.C. Pierson, comedian, writer, filmmaker and author of The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To and Crap Kingdom, and co-writer and star of indie comedy movie Mystery Team, talks about getting more vulnerable with age, using his fiction to explore the gap between what we expect of the world and what turns out to be true, and being sick of not finishing things. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Dan Eckman and Meggie McFadden are two comedians D.C. has worked with for years, in part on an adaptation of D.C.’s first book, The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To D.C. loved the cover of his dad’s copy of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Rubber Soul was the one Beatles album D.C.’s family had on cassette or CD In conjunction with the documentary The Beatles Anthology, detailed compilations of Beatles ephemera were released in three double-CD sets: Anthology 1, Anthology 2, and Anthology 3. D.C. listened to these more than the regular Beatles albums, which means he listened to a lot of alternate versions of songs and random studio chatter. He credits that with jumpstarting much of his curiosity as a storyteller. While D.C. attended the Rita and Burton Goldberg School of Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch Institute of Performing Arts, one of his teachers was Charlie Rubin, who wrote for Seinfeld and In Living Color, and was a showrunner for Law & Order: Criminal Intent Derick was D.C.’s improv group which formed at NYU, made up of D.C. Pierson, Dominic Dierkes, Donald Glover, Dan Eckman, and Maggie McFadden Mystery Team was a fully independently-made movie that the Derick Comedy group made, which had a screening at Sundance, and led the group to move to Los Angeles Upright Citizens Brigade improv theater is where D.C. honed his comedy and performing chops during and after college The concept for Mystery Team is basically: what if characters from Encyclopedia Brown never really grew out of their idealized, 1950s childhood, and kept trying to solve crimes? Donald shared what he learned writing for 30 Rock (with Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, Matt Hubbard, Kay Cannon) with his Derick Comedy friends to help them write a tight script for Mystery Team Nathan Rabin, who wrote for The A.V. Club at the time, wrote a glowing review there for Mystery Team that D.C. credits with helping the movie gain momentum A passing encouraging comment from comedian, actor, writer, and musician Eliza Skinner gave D.C. the boost he needed to start writing a book Dianne McGunigle, manager and a producer of Atlanta, was D.C. agent at the time that he wrote a first draft of The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep… and she read it quickly, a favor for which D.C. is forever grateful Gerry Howard, who edited David Foster Wallace’s The Broom of the System and Girl with Curious Hair, as well as Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, was the editor D.C. worked with for The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep… D.C. was starstruck to be going to the offices where Sloane Crosley—essayist and writer known for I Was Told There’d Be Cake, How Did You Get This Number and her newest, Look Alive Out There—also worked. The Los Angeles Times gave The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep… a lovely review D.C. was inspired by psychologist Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success One of D.C.’s favorite English teachers sent him Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham provided a quote that summed up what he likes to explore in all his writing To me, Crap Kingdom is asking, “What if Lord of the Rings was deeply uncool?” Stephen King’s On Writing is one of the writing books that has inspired D.C. in his fiction process One of D.C.’s earliest imrpov teachers, Owen Burke, referred to the following passage from Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, on the endurance of human thought and creation: “We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again. You do not suppose, my lady, that if all of Archimedes had been hiding in the great library of Alexandria, we would be at a loss for a corkscrew?” D.C. sometimes teaches at Writing Pad, a writing program offered online and in L.A./S.F. Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works. Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free! Participate To leave a voicemail for a future episode, call 818-533-1998. Or you can email the show at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. Rate, Review, and Recommend How do you like the show? 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New York Times–bestselling author Sloane Crosley discusses Look Alive Out There—a brand-new collection of essays filled with her trademark hilarity, wit, and charm. The characteristic heart and punch-packing observations are back, but with a newfound coat of maturity. Sloane gives an inside look into how she writes her stories which include scaling active volcanoes, crashing shivas, befriending swingers, and squinting down the barrel of the fertility gun. Please visit https://goo.gle/2XZtn7Z to get the book! Moderated by Megan Green. Visit http://g.co/TalksAtGoogle/LookAliveOutThere to watch the video.

Sloane Crosley is the author of "I Was Told There’d Be Cake" and "How Did You Get This Number." Her latest essay collection is "Look Alive Out There."

Litquake's "Lit Cast Live" series of events at Bay Area bookstores continues with Sloane Crosley, New York Times–bestselling author of "Look Alive Out There"―a brand-new collection of essays filled with her trademark hilarity, wit, and charm. The characteristic heart and punch-packing observations are back, but with a newfound coat of maturity. A thin coat. More of a blazer, really. In conversation with Daniel Mallory Ortberg. This appearance was recorded live at Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco.  ww.facebook.com/litquake  https://twitter.com/Litquake  

One of the best things you can do as a fan of any art is to go into something with no real expectations and find something you think is wonderful. That explains my relationship with The English Beat. The band played their first show in 1979 and were part of the two-tone movement in the early 80s, but I didn't hop on board until I saw the band last year. They were on the Retro Futura Tour, which also featured Paul Young, Katrina Leskanich from Katrina and the Waves, Modern English, Men Without Hats, and Howard Jones. I had a vague notion of a couple of songs, but I didn't know the band's history, how it broke off into General Public and Fine Young Cannibals, or how many hits they'd had. “Mirror In the Bathroom,” “Save It For Later,” “Too Nice To Talk To,” “Hands Off She's Mine.” After that, Wakeling and Ranking Roger split off into General Public and added “Tenderness” and “I'll Take You There” to the pile of hits. But all I knew coming out of the auditorium that night was that The English Beat put on a hell of a show, even with a shortened set. I was hooked. This year, the band has a new album out, and since they tour frequently, I was able to catch up with them again at the Sinclair in Cambridge, just across the river from Boston. The new album, Here We Go Love!, is the first English Beat studio album since 1982's Special Beat Service. It has some of the same qualities as the original three albums – an upbeat sound that sprinkles in a variety of world music influences with a pop/rock center, frequently anchored by lyrics with a heavy or knotty subject matter. Wakeling says in some ways the record sounds like what the band might have sounded like as the Beat morphed into General Public after the split in '82. I spoke with him backstage at the Sinclair while the rest of the band did their soundcheck, and there's a great moment toward the end where Wakeling is talking about some of the weightier lyrics while the band is pumping out some of the happiest, foot-moving music you'll ever hear. Wakeling was a delightful conversationalist. He's thoughtful but doesn't take himself too seriously. And very direct and open about The English Beat's history, his relationship with Ranking Roger and the possibility of working together again, and the struggle to get the new album out to fans. Of the new album, he said he wasn't sure if it was going to be a “springboard or a swan song” for the Beat. I'm hoping it's a springboard, because I'm just getting started with them. You can find out more about the new album and the band's tour dates at EnglishBeat.net. This week's featured track is a short chapter from the Audible version of Sloane Crosley's new collection of personal essays, Look Alive Out There. This is an essay titled “Our Hour Is Up,” which finds Crosley revisiting her grade school days. She writes about how little infractions can stay with you and even form you in some ways. As Crosley writes elsewhere in the book about driving past your old high school, it's “at once everything and nothing.” Later in the story, she runs into someone who had slighted her back in grade school, which brings up some complicated feelings. That resonates with me. It's something you have to be on constant lookout for, these tiny blocked arteries that build up and can eventually stop your heart if you don't flush them.

Chozick discusses her time covering Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail, and Sloane Crosley talks about her new collection of essays, “Look Alive Out There.”

With her keenly observed, winningly self-aware forays into the adventure of the everyday, Sloane Crosley makes her essays the voice of an ideal friend on a long journey – thoughtful, charming, and ready to turn any misfortune into a hilarious and beloved memory. Readers first discovered Crosley's irresistible voice in her bestselling collections I Was Told There Would Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number.  She joined us recently to talk about her new book, Look Alive Out There, which pits her razor wit against everything from nightmarish neighbors to family secrets to a trip up an Andean volcano that ends in a fiasco.  Our conversation began with a classic question: can you judge a book by its cover?

In episode 15, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell ask who's funny in the age of Trump, and how they're managing to pull it off. They talk to Sloane Crosley, author of the new essay collection, Look Alive Out There, about the humor of the everyday and the freedom and subversiveness of not writing about the president. The also speak to Alexandra Petri of The Washington Post's ComPost column, whose column features humorous takes on political news ranging from James Comey's book release to Chris Christie's screaming eyes. Readings: • Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley • A Field Guide to Awkward Silences and the ComPost blog, by Alexandra Petri, including [“Further excerpts from James Comey's book, if the existing ones are anything to go on](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2018/04/13/further-excerpts-from-james-comeys-book-if-the-existing-ones-are-anything-to-go-on/?utm_term=.0d4b0ee949c3)" • Life of Samuel Johnson, by James Boswell • My Life and Hard Times, by James Thurber • Sylvia Plath, [“Tulips”](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49013/tulips-56d22ab68fdd0) • The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotations • [“The Clouds](http://classics.mit.edu/Aristophanes/clouds.html)," by Aristophanes • [“The Personal Essay Boom is Over,”](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/jia-tolentino/the-personal-essay-boom-is-over) by Jia Tolentino Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On The Gist, Paul Ryan cared about just one thing: cutting taxes. Word choice is not always the most stimulating place to start an interview with an author, but it works when you’re talking to Sloane Crosley. The essayist defends metaphors like “Holocaust bunk bed” and the related analogy, “as if the Brady Bunch were filmed in Nazi Germany.” Crosley’s latest book—a collection of essays—is Look Alive Out There. In the Spiel, Congress failed to pin Mark Zuckerberg down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On The Gist, Paul Ryan cared about just one thing: cutting taxes. Word choice is not always the most stimulating place to start an interview with an author, but it works when you’re talking to Sloane Crosley. The essayist defends metaphors like “Holocaust bunk bed” and the related analogy, “as if the Brady Bunch were filmed in Nazi Germany.” Crosley’s latest book—a collection of essays—is Look Alive Out There. In the Spiel, Congress failed to pin Mark Zuckerberg down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In bestseller Sloane Crosley's new essay collection, LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE, the witty, perceptive writer confronts middle age, and she's not exactly loving it. What was life like on the set of the big-budget, Hollywood epic, GIANT, starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean (egos clashed, for starters). Don Graham has written GIANT, the definitive account of the making of the movie and we’re asking him about it on this week's episode. And our editors tell us which new books they think are really worth your time!

We're back, bookish friends! With our first regular episode, we chat about some of our most anticipated releases of 2018. News New theme song—thank you Isaac and Sarah Greene. The Reading Women Challenge has started! We redesigned the Reading Women Store. The 24in48 readathon is January 27-28! Check out the details over on their website. Check out our Patreon page to learn more about our book club and other Patreon-exclusive goodies. Special thanks to Carley T. and Stephanie W. And be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more new books and extra book reviews. Find a full version of this episode's show notes over on our website. Books Mentioned Feel Free by Zadie Smith (Penguin Press) Feb. 6th Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot (Counterpoint) Feb. 6th All the Names They Used for God: Stories by Anjali Sachdeva (Spiegal and Grau) Feb. 20th What Are We Doing Here? by Marilynne Robinson (FSG) Feb. 20th Awayland by Ramona Ausubel (Riverhead) March 6th The Gunners by Rebecca Kaufman (Counterpoint) March 20th Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley (MCD) April 3rd Legendary Ladies by Ann Shen (Chronicle Books) April 3rd Honorable Mentions The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (Little, Brown Book for Young Jan. 2nd The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin (Putnam) Jan. 9th Winter by Ali Smith (Pantheon) Jan. 9th Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro (Grove Press) Jan. 9th The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Press) (Jan. 9th)  Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward (Scribner) Jan. 16th Brass by Xhenet Aliu (Random House) Jan. 23rd An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (Algonquin) Feb. 6th I Am I Am I Am by Maggie O'Farrell (Knopf) Feb. 6th Force of Nature by Jane Harper (Flatiron) Feb. 6th Fresh Water by Akwaeke Emezi (Grove Press) Feb. 13th Dangerous Crossing by Ausma Zehanat Khan (Minotaur Books) Feb. 3th Happiness by Aminatta Forna (Atlantic) March 6th Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao (Flantiron) March 6th Ask Me about My Uterus by Abby Norman (Nation Books) March 6th Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat (Henry Holt) March 13th The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer (Riverhead) April 3rd Circe by Madeline Miller (Little, Brown) April 10th West by Carys Davies (Scribner) by April 24th Tin Man by Sarah Winman (Putnam) May 15th Florida by Lauren Groff (Riverhead) June 5th Sick by Porochista Khakpour (Harper Perennial) June 5th   CONTACT Questions? Comments? Email us hello@readingwomenpodcast.com. SOCIAL MEDIA Reading Women Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Website   Music “Reading Women” Composed and Recorded by Isaac and Sarah Greene Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices