By turns touching and hilarious, Helen Ellis brings Southern womanhood to the page in an honest and thoughtful collection of essays.

Helen Ellis is a Southerner born and bred, but was transplanted to Manhattan long ago. That culture clash results in all manner of hilarity, which Ellis chronicles with dry, self-deprecating wit. The courtesy she acquired in her childhood helps her navigate an amazing variety of situations with aplomb: muggings, mammograms, hauntings, being the lone lady at a gay bachelor party, trying to score weed while looking hopelessly preppy. Each brief essay is a tasty morsel (liberally slathered with polite elisions and full fat sour cream) of a life lived with abandon.

This collection of essays had me laughing out loud. I'm from the South and can relate to so many of the stories and sayings and feelings in this book. I felt like Helen Ellis took me to church during the airplanes essay because I said "amen" so many times. It's hilarious and I feel the carry-on frustration in my soul. I'm going to pre-order this book and keep it handy for a rainy day, because there are more than enough reasons to laugh in these pages. To anyone who has anything negative to say about the book, I say, "Bless your heart."

Reading this book was like talking to a friend! So much was like my own experiences (thank you's, cheese logs, "investment pieces") that I felt the we were long lost friends. Helen speaks of her life and experiences in such a funny and engaging way that you want to follow along just to see if anything can top the last entry. A winner for sure!

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times - any book that can make me laugh out loud immediately wins its place on my metaphorical shelf of books worth reading.

Southern Lady Code is a short, snappy book full of hilarious essays by Helen Ellis about her life as a woman who grew up in the South. Interestingly enough, I'm not sure I would call this a "southern" work in the way that books by Joshilyn Jackson or Wiliam Faulkner are absolutely steeped in southern culture and setting. Ellis has spent a large part of her adult life in New York, and a lot of the stories are very "upper crust NYC" in their sensibilities. The title comes into play as she examines all of the different experiences she has in her life through the lens of this "code" that she learned from growing up in the south. The code is: in her own words - "a technique by which, if you don't have something nice to say, you say something not-so-nice in a nice way." As someone who has spent her whole life in the South, I can confirm that almost everything she says is true - it is (unfortunately) not some over-exaggeration of the characteristics of a "southern lady."

Despite this, I don't think that someone would need to be from the south to enjoy this collection - I think it has something to appeal to all women, as it's really about life as a modern American woman. She holds absolutely nothing back, and shares anecdotes that will have you barking with laughter.

Hilariously honest essays about the life of a Southern Lady whether or not she's currently living in the South - don't drink your tea while reading or you just might accidentally snort it out your nose! I loved Helen's sense of humor and every one of these essays about everything from marriage to thank-you notes to three-ways - I can't recommend this enough!

Love, love, love this book. It was such a fun read and I can definitely see some of my southern roots in her experiences. I enjoyed this book so much I had to look up the author and followed her podcast. There were some actual Laugh Out Loud moments. Don't read in public, people might think you've lost your marbles while you're laughing.

Hilarious and charming essays from a southern woman in New York! I got such a kick out of this and think you will too. Definitely a fun read

I think my grandmother and maybe even mother would enjoy this book. I usually enjoy essay collections but the humor didn't land for me and the tone in 2019 just felt off. Not for me, I"m Southern but apparently not Southern or rich enough.

I love good southern humor. We bless hearts and sip sweet tea and smile sweetly as we mention that your outfit is so daring, we could never pull that off.

This is not good southern humor.

This doesn't even come close to good southern humor.

I believe Helen Ellis is probably a fantastic oral story teller. When you tell a funny story in person, you get to embellish, make hand gestures, enunciate different words. The presentation of a funny story is far more important than the story itself.

In person, maybe the story of Helen accidentally mistaking someone else's $800 coat for her own $800 coat is hysterical. But there's no umph to this story. She calls two people, confirms it's not their coat, then she and her husband go to a store to buy a $1200 coat to make her feel better about her belief that the coat she has is not her own.

This story is a lot of things, but funny isn't one of them.

Same for the story of a friend's husband's tale of a three-way he witnessed. That sounds like an amazing set up, but too much time is spent dissecting the husband's story telling method, and the wife's response to hearing the same story repeatedly.

That is not humor. It's barely story telling in itself.

The only story I enjoyed was Serious Women, wherein Helen sits in the courtroom while her friend prosecutes a woman who murdered a former high school classmate and cut her baby out, pretending it was hers.

There was no humor in this story. There wasn't supposed to be. And the story telling itself wasn't particularly good. But I kept thinking, "Damn, did someone write a book about this? Because I would read it."

Then I set this book down and started googling the news story.

This is not a good book. There's no Southern Lady Code word for that. It's just bad.

This was my first Helen Ellis book and it definitely won’t be my last! She’s charming, hilarious and so sweetly Southern. I loved these short essays about living life by the “Southern Lady Code”. I highly recommend if you’re looking for a book that will charm you and make you laugh out loud!

A book of humorous essays from a Southern lady living in New York City.

I thought this was a super quick and easy read. I read through the whole thing in just 3-4 treadmill work outs where I like to read on my Kindle.

Helen Ellis is funny with a touch of that Southern charm that I've always loved! While none of the stories were laugh out loud funny to me, they were silly and enjoyable. I didn't necessarily relate much to her (wealthy, Southern bred lady), but I enjoyed her take on life and her "Southern Lady Code," which is basically saying something not so nice but in a nice way.

I'd definitely read more from her. In fact, I'd kind of like to be her friend. If you're in the mood for something light, check this one out.

Who can't use a secret stash of smile stimulants ? My only complaint about this book of humorous essays is that I wasn't bright enough to savor it over days or weeks---I chose to binge-read it , Now I don't have another essay to look forward to . . . . . .

. . . I strongly recommend one a day to keep the "glooms" away.

The author is a generation removed from me---but, I can still identify with her in every way. She is witty and wise, funny but firm, and her writing conveys that although she is capable of having a serious side, she is far too smart to take herself too seriously.

In short, I am in love with Helen Ellis.

Many thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an unbiased review.

Helen Ellis does it again with "Southern Lady Code". Her eclectic collection of essays, lists, letters etc make this a wild and hilarious read. Her voice is one-of-a-kind and I'm already looking forward to her next collection.

I could not put this book down until I finished it. It brightened my day and made me laugh. This is a quick and easy read, perfect for a rainy afternoon or a plane ride. I should make the disclaimer that I am from Northern Illinois, though I am interested in various aspects of Southern culture.

Southern Lady Code: Essays 

This is an entertaining collection of funny essays by Helen Ellis written with wit and candor and touching on family and marriage. Having lived in the South for a couple of decades now, I found plenty to grin at and relate to. If you’re Southern or know someone who is, you’ll likely enjoy it too, or if you like sassy, slightly snarky humor. I enjoyed the style of humor. My thanks for the advance electronic copy that was provided by NetGalley, author Helen Ellis, and the publisher for my fair review.

This book is funny, heartwarming, and absolutely delightful. Each chapter is a slice of Helen’s life experiences and is used to illustrate all of the points of the Southern Lady Code. From ghosts to marriage this books is a great read that I could not put down.

Helen Ellis is hilarious. If you liked American Housewife, you will love Southern Lady Code. I loved this a bit more because these are true stories from Helen's life. Which makes it even funnier, in my opinion. Short and sweet, and hilarious.

A disappointing follow up to American housewife, which brimmed with humor and originality. This felt like a collection of stories more to buoy the author's sense of self-worth than to entertain others. Entertaining at times but bogged down by the author's privilege.

I laughed until I cried, wiped the tears, and laughed some more. This was a perfect book from beginning to end and as a Southern woman, I loved it. I can’t wait to buy it for our library and I will be recommending it to my book club friends! It is a MUST read.