How Did You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers!

We've had our lighter fare for the week, now on to the books!  Yes readers, there is a full schedule ahead...hopefully a few of them will end up on your TBR lists....or perhaps you've already read them and would care to share your thoughts.  Either way, the anticipation is killing me!  Let's get to the book of the day, shall we?  This book was recommended to me not long after I finished another witty gem (It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Me) and so I thought...sure, why not.  I mean I'm open to new reads, hence the eclectic nature of my blog, and it sounded interesting.  Little did I know the path I was following would lead me to the land of "I-don't-know-what-to-make-of-this" where many a book lies in wait to boggle the minds of it's readers....muwhahahahaha.  (Oh, note to readers....I may get a pinch dramatic and or out right sarcastic in this review.  Why?  What do you mean why?  Just kidding...it suits the mood of the book....)  Today's book of choice is....

How Did You Get This Number

by

Sloane Crosley

A collection of memories told under the blinding light of hindsight all from the author's sordid traveling past....that's what you have here.  Why is her past sordid?  Oh, ask her...the one with the outrageously decorated apartment all purchased for well under the asking price.  Or perhaps she can recant the tale of how all her traveling ambitions began with a spin and an extension of her finger (literally, she spun a globe, pointed, and went there).  Prefer little cute little guy on the cover there?  There's a story for that one too though you may not quite be so happy by the time you reach the end of that little tale.  As in reading so is life...each step taken is a journey yet uncharted.  Here, the author chooses to chart her course through the past to show you just how she arrived at the future in all her humorous glory.

Okay, I admit it...at first I was ready to throw in the towel on this one as the stories felt too drawn out to be taken in self serve doses while they would be incomplete if shortened from their current length.  I was torn.  I mean you go from having a story show signs of humanity in relation to the fate of a woodland critter, then all of a sudden you are thrown into a "work it baby" photo session with a glacier....yeah....there's a 180.  Luckily (or was it?) the stories redeemed themselves (to me) upon reaching the half-way mark with the help of her misadventures in France.  Gotta love the quote about sleeping in someone else's apartment. 

Without even trying to take in Paris, I had already slept in someone else's low bed.  I had touched their funny toilet paper, opened their medicine cabinet, banged on their faucets like a monkey, and then maneuvered their low-hanging shower head, mumbling, What is this, Thailand? until I resigned myself to defeat and squatted to bathe, also like a monkey.  -- pg 193

See?  Admit it...you're chuckling.  The final pages...well they left me feeling a bit like a hypocrite since I was SO down in the mouth at the start.  I mean really....is it fair to pick up and change direction in the later portion of a book?  I think not.  It leaves readers confused and feeling misguided while at the same time making the laughs that ensue all the more disturbing.  I beg of you, make up your mind so I can make up my mind and together our minds will be made up.  ^_^

Seriously....am I glad I read it?  Sure!  Reading is an adventure every time you embark....there are just some journey's that you enjoy a bit more than others.  Did I enjoy this one?  Not as much as I had hoped, but I do keep with me a few memorable gems certainly worthy of discussion.  Would I recommend it to you?  Hard to say.  I suppose it depends on the reader, your mood, the proper lighting, snackage availability, and comfort level.  With all those in place and a "here-we-go" attitude, I can say with no more certainty that you will at the very least have experienced something other than your everyday read....

ARC for review received courtesy of Lydia at G.P. Putnam's Sons / Riverhead.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title as well as their varied catalogue, visit their website, Facebook (1 or 2) or follow on Twitter (1 or 2)! 

Until next time....happy reading!