Rude Bitches Make Me Tired

Finished February 17
Rude Bitches Make Me Tired: Slightly Profane and Entirely Logical Answers to Modern Etiquette Dilemmas by Celia Rivenbark

This book tackles etiquette from a real world point of view. Separated into topics such as visiting, office manners, and check splitting, Rivenbark went out and asked people what etiquette issues bothered them the most and found that she wasn't alone in some of her pet peeves.
She addresses real world situations with humour and insight and provides real solutions with a dose of common sense. I've been in a lot of the situations she refers to and find them just as annoying as she does. The slide into self centered behaviour is something many of us bemoan, but few address.
This book may provide you with some useful strategies, and entertain you as well.
A good read.

Toby: a man

Finished February 10
Toby: a man by Todd Babiak
Toby grew up in Montreal and now works for a TV station there doing a show on etiquette for the modern man. The night before the election, Toby finds his father sitting in his parents' driveway in their car, which is on fire. Trying to cope with this incident, his father's increasingly strange behaviour, and his own lack of courage in dealing with it, Toby struggles through the night. Faced with the added distress of the betrayal of his girlfriend, he undergoes a minor meltdown on live television. This causes him to lose his job. Having lived beyond his means in order to play the "successful man about town," he swiftly also loses his car and condo and is living back in his parents' basement.
When a brief encounter with a female in distress leads her to dump her toddler on him without warning and disappear, his life becomes something he doesn't recognize. As he takes the advice of old friends and family, he finds a new purpose to his life and finds that being a man means more than handkerchiefs and dressing well. A real eye-opener.

Books finished Jan 26 and 27

Finished January 27th

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway: Dynamic Techniques for Turning Fear, Indecision and Anger into Power, Action, and Love by Susan Jeffers
This is a book that has been on my to-read list for a while and I finally got it out on unabridged CD and listened to it. As one of the classic self-help books, it has some lessons that I have since heard in later books. I found it interesting though as I often have a fear of starting something in case I don't do it well. This looked back at the root causes of fear and of what we can change in our outlook and behaviours to change our actions. It teaches the reader tools to remain positive, trust one's intuition and say yes to the actions we need to do to grow. I can see why it is a classic.

Finished January 26th

Say Please, Say Thank You: The Respect We Owe One Another by Donald McCullough
This book has been beside my bed for a while and I finished it off last night. The author is a president of a seminary as well as a theological professor, but it doesn't come off as overly religious. The book is all about respecting each other and ourselves. I think a lot of this respect has been lost in the rush of life lately and this just reminds us of what we should be doing.
The book covers many interactions including: acknowledging others assistance; not hurting others' feelings unnecessarily; road (and other types of) rage; respecting occasions and others' time and plans; manners at meals; waiting one's turn (one of my pet peeves!); acknowledging boundaries and cultural differences; apologizing; different forms of communication; listening to others; not talking down to others; keeping secrets; cleaning up after yourself; not imposing your interests on others; following the rules; and strengthening community bonds.
All useful lessons to remember in this busy world of ours.