Peas Queues

How do you get rid of unwanted guests? What do you do if there's a racket in the quiet carriage? How should you eat peas, and behave in queues? How to behave, like how to punctuate, is an aspect of life that many are no longer taught - and getting it wrong is the stuff of comedy at best and humiliation at worst. Thankfully, Sandi Toksvig has come to the rescue with her entertaining guide to modern manners,with tips on what to do whether you're talking to a bore, or forgot their name in the first place. (Just call them 'darling'.) The award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and writer offers guidance on the social pitfalls of every phase of life, from christenings to condolence letters. With characteristic wit and perceptiveness, and revealing the trickiest of her encounters along the way, she highlights decency rather than convention and provides an essential guide to twenty-first century behaviour. Now this down-to-earth, hilarious guide is available in perfect pocket-sized paperback size.

Blundering about Sorrento and its environs in search of culture, the author unwittingly resists his wifes never ending attempts to civilise him. From the heights of Vesuvius, to the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, along the beautiful Amalfi coast and, of course, not forgetting Sorrento itself, the authors propensity to get himself into cringe-making embarrassing situations reaches new heights and plunges even deeper depths as he embarks on the second week of his holiday to Italy, and takes up from where the first book, An Italian Journey, stopped. Ubiquitous Dutchmen, domineering drivers, pestilential teenage girls, a mafioso maitre d, not to mention a glamorous older woman these are just some of the colourful characters whom the gods send to cross the authors path and severely try his patience, whilst his own bungling incompetencies result in an hilarious narrative as he attempts to extricate himself from yet another fine mess he has got himself into. With a fine eye for detail and his penchant for the off-beat and the peculiar, the writer describes not only the people and events, but also the places he visits. You may have visited Sorrento before, but youve never seen it quite like this!

A “sensible and extremely amusing” guide to etiquette from the comedian and former cohost of The Great British Bake Off (Library Journal, starred review). No one learns “etiquette” anymore (except by embarrassing trial and error). But manners are more than a dusty tradition: Done right, they make life easier for everyone. That’s why Sandi Toksvig, cohost of The Great British Bake Off, highlights decency rather than convention in this entertaining guide, with: Spot-On Advice: “Remember—you don’t have to answer the phone, so don’t do it if you don’t have time to be polite.” Fascinating Trivia: “It is very rude to clear the plate of someone who hasn’t finished. In fact, the Romans believed doing so would bring about the diner’s sudden death.” And Her Characteristic Wit: “Focusing on the people you share a meal with is both a pleasure and a necessity. Get to know your family members; you might even like them.” Be the most decently behaved person in the room, and the most interesting: Master The Tricky Art of Co-Existing! “Instead of some prissy, preachy list of rules, [the author] backs up her suggestions on etiquette with occasionally obscure and often hilarious facts.” —Bust

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