Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated

Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated
by Judith Martin

Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated
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Book Summary Information

Author: Judith Martin
Illustrator: Gloria Kamen
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-04-25
ISBN: 0393058743
Number of pages: 864
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.

Book Reviews of Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated

Book Review: Great Advice (and a few guffaws)
Summary: 5 Stars

Miss Manners' advice (freshly updated or not) is an essential reference for every household. While it is an excellent guide for behaving well, it does not wallow in laments for a bygone era of calling cards and women being treated as delicate flowers. Rather, it is a guide to living graciously in a time when behavior is becoming increasingly rude.

This is not to say that one must become a doormat for every ranting, self-proclaimed expert one encounters on a daily basis. Exercising good manners is a means of preserving dignity and peace of mind even as you turns away from the rude demonstrations of people around you.

While her tone is one of carefully maintained civility, Miss Manners can dispense her wisdom (and a few history lessons) which a great sense of humor. I've been reading this book not just for the lessons but for the laughs. (There is a particularly good one to be had in a section on how to behave when, at a formal dinner party, one of the guests trips and falls face-first into a bowl of guacamole while at the same time popping out of her strapless dress.)

Be warned: You'll likely learn that some of the things you've done in the past have been (a) incorrect or (b) horribly gauche. But you can rest easy in knowing that good manners always leave ample room for forgiveness.

Summary of Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated

An indispensable manual to navigating life from birth to death without making a false move.

Your neighbor denounces cellular telephones as instruments of the devil. Your niece swears that no one expects thank-you letters anymore. Your father-in-law insists that married women have to take their husbands' names. Your guests plead that asking them to commit themselves to attending your party ruins the spontaneity. Who is right?

Miss Manners, of course. With all those amateurs issuing unauthorized etiquette pronouncements, aren't you glad that there is a gold standard to consult about what has really changed and what has not?

The freshly updated version of the classic bestseller includes the latest letters, essays, and illustrations, along with the laugh-out-loud wisdom of Miss Manners as she meets the new millennium of American misbehavior head-on. This wickedly witty guide rules on the challenges brought about by our ever-evolving society, once again proving that etiquette, far from being an optional extra, is the essential currency of a civilized world. 32 illustrations.


Miss Manners' down-to-earth collection of wisdom and pithy wit is a joy to read. Under the chapter on Table Manners, she notes "the inevitable slippage of spaghetti from the fork back onto the plate is Nature's way of controlling human piggishness" and suggests "a quick motion of the wrist, such as one uses to shake down a thermometer, will remove excess ketchup" from French fries. From common courtesy and proper attire to the etiquette of weddings, Martin knows right from wrong and sensible from rude. But this is no prissy, preachy tome. Miss Manners is very funny and has impressive insight into life.

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