Funny girl

By Meredith Deliso

Sloane Crosley loves reading to people — and it doesn’t even have to be her own work.

“I’ve been known to get so excited about a short story and read it to my friends over the phone,” said Crosley. “I can’t believe I did this, this is so cruel, but I once read, ‘White Angel’ in its entirety to someone. And it was midnight.”

Of course, Crosley has plenty of her own material to pick from, including her latest humor collection, “How Did You Get This Number,” which will bring Crosley to BookCourt this Thursday.

The collection follows her sometimes awkward, always introspective adventures in New York and aboard — the travails of a kleptomaniac roommate; visiting a former brothel haunted by the ghosts of its former tenants (if only in her over-active imagination); taking a solo vacation to Lisbon, a place she chose by spinning a globe and landing a finger blindly picking a spot; and a run-in with a grizzly while visiting Alaska.

They’re witty, spot-on reads about the peculiarities of New York life — just like her prior best-selling collection, “I Thought There’d Be Cake.” Though as the author prepares to revisit of the work on the event of its paperback release, it’s not without some reservations about those readings she so dearly loves.

“I don’t want to be that person who’s at the party not taking the social cues that they just told this story,” said Crosley. “But you have to have a little bit of faith in yourself. And remember that they’re laughing with you, not at you.”

Sloane Crosley at BookCourt [163 Court St. between Pacific and Dean streets in Cobble Hill, (718) 875-3677], May 12 at 7 pm. Free. For info, visit www.bookcourt.org. Also at powerHouse Arena [37 Main St. at Water Street in DUMBO, (718) 666-3049], May 24 at 8 pm. Free. For info, visit www.powerhousearena.org.