cover image The Tricky Art of Co-existing: How to Behave Decently No Matter What Life Throws Your Way

The Tricky Art of Co-existing: How to Behave Decently No Matter What Life Throws Your Way

Sandi Toksvig. The Experiment (Workman, dist.), $14.95 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-61519-221-2

Toksvig (Valentine Gray) thoroughly covers the intricacies of modern manners in this handy, if sometimes strained, offering. In 11 chapters, written in letter form to an eight-year-old named Mary (identified as a “delightful child in my life”), she outlines everything from dining in (don’t pick nose or teeth at the dinner table; how to use chopsticks; what is appropriate to eat with one’s fingers) and out (as a guest at a dinner party, wait to be invited to have a second serving; as a restaurant customer, tipping, ordering, and the like) to behaving on social media (beware of showing off; don’t be a troll or feed one; try not to look desperate or weird). The author serves up her advice with a solid helping of odd, intermittently relevant trivia—the creator of grocery store chain Piggly Wiggly; the origins of the fork; Alfred Hitchcock’s childhood—which, if nothing else, will give readers a few fascinating, offbeat facts to share at their next dinner party. While Toksvig’s writing is engaging, her frequent asides to young Mary quickly become cloying and cutesy. Still, her advice is sound and should save many, not least young Mary, from unintentional etiquette gaffes in the future. [em](Apr.) [/em]