Minding Miss Manners

My first audiobook review for Goodreads, and it is 5 stars all the way!

This audiobook by Miss Manners (also known as Judith Martin) is read by Jacobina Martin. Of course, being nosy, I immediately had to Google to see if Miss Manners and Jacobina were related. So I was today years old when I learned that in fact Jacobina Martin IS Judith Martin's daughter, AND both Jacobina and her brother Nicholas have been helping write the Miss Manners column with their mother for some time. I also learned that Jacobina Martin is an improv comedian, which explains how she totally nailed Miss Manners' humorous and slightly snarky tone.

At first I was very surprised at the narrator's voice. I perhaps unreasonably expected to hear the voice of a prim, elderly, possibly British aristocrat, as befitting the old fashioned Miss Manners in my mind. Nope! This narrator is young, funny, with a pleasant voice and a straightforward, witty and elegant approach to the manners discussed in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her.

This book is great because it is a thoroughly modern interpretation of Miss Manners and her advice. Topics tackled are things like: What is "political correctness" as it relates to politeness? What do we do about the highly commercialized/monetized nature of weddings and GoFundMe pages foisted on us nowadays? Does my cell phone go to the left or the right of my plate at a formal place setting? Are there polite ways to sidestep distasteful political conversations with your crazy uncle at Thanksgiving? Overall, this book provides many practical and funny responses to these and other questions dealing with the increased rudeness that seems to crop up more and more in our society nowadays.

As in previous books in earlier years, in this audiobook I ADORED Miss Manners' answers, snark, and humor. (She has been required reading per my mother for as long as I can remember.) I laughed out loud many times listening to this book and found myself taking mental notes to file away some of her proposed responses for future use. Knowing that Miss Manners is now being aided by a younger generation of writers initially took away from some of my nostalgia imagining Miss Manners as the elderly aristocrat I described above, but by about the first 15 minutes of this book, I was fully onboard with the slightly younger and more modern Miss Manners. (If you think about it, Miss Manners has always been a little political and a little ahead of her time - so it's nice that this continues here.) The book is of course full of Miss Manners' traditional puns and sassy comebacks, too.

I highly recommend this book - it's a fast read (clocking in around 5.5 hours of listening time), humorous, and provides a ton of good advice on how to remain polite and gracious in our sometimes trying society.

Thank you to Jacobina Martin, Judith Martin, Noisefloor and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the advance copy of this fun and useful audiobook!

This was a great listen and there are so many people that need to experience it! In this age of being overly familiar with each other and there being no boundaries, so few of us feel that we can avoid answering nosy questions without being rude. The author lays out ways to handle all kinds of situations in this modern age. I also loved finding out that the narrator is the author's daughter and that she helps with writing her mother's column. I love weird facts like that and found this out when googling the author.

Minding Miss Manners by Judith Martin should be mandatory reading for everyone these days. It's a no-frill reminder that civility matters at a time when civility is in short supply. Organized like the newspaper column of the same name, this book covers all the modern-day challenges to good manners we face every day - how to respond to things like Go-Fund Me and birthday party gift lists, and how to walk away from a social media feeding frenzy with your dignity.

I listened to the audiobook version of this title, and it was just a great way to pass some time while I was out in the yard. Nothing too demanding, just a lot of great advice and answers to many of the awkward or uncomfortable situations we find ourselves in this post-manners time.

I highly recommend Minding Miss Manners, and will be giving it as gifts to all the graduates I know!

This review is based on an advance copy listen.

I feel that today's people lack of all sort basic manners and this guide offers a modern, fresh and interesting approach to all kind of situations and gives polite answers to often bizarre and rude questions.
Etiquette is a must for civilized society.

Witty and fun to listen.

Minding Miss Manners is a AWESOME book. I listened to this on audio, it was great!!! The narrator is PERFECT for this book. This book goes through lots of situations, things people have wrote to Miss Manners about and what Miss Manners recommends. It’s very interesting and a great read. :) happy reading!

Fun take on modern manners. Really enjoyed the sassy banter of the replies of the narrator. I assumed it would be an etiquette for the modern day. I wasn’t expecting it to be similar to an old newspapers gossip column. Would recommend to someone looking for something fun and quirky to read.

Miss Manners has been teaching us the right way to handle various situations for years. She was around twenty-five years ago when I got married, so it was interesting to see how society has changed over the years and how her recommendations still hold up over time. There were some outrageous situations, especially in the bridezilla section, that makes me sad for humanity. As expected Miss Manners politely and sometimes with pointed snarkiness puts the moronic people in their place. This was an interesting and humorous read. The audiobook narrator did a great job giving Miss Manners a voice and personality.

I have always been a fan of advice columnists, with Miss Manners ranking up at the top, so I was really excited to discover that Judith Martin (the person behind the Miss Manners pen name since 1978, with assistance from her children Nicholas and Jacobina since 2013) had a new compilation of reader letters and responses. In this compilation, Miss Manners continues to enlighten, inform and delight readers with advice delivered with her signature dash of witticism. Navigating the age-old dilemmas of weddings, family squabbles, holiday gatherings, party hosting, gift giving/receiving and thank you notes, this compilation also includes some sage advice for more modern dilemmas from food fussing, extortionist etiquette and virtuous rudeness to fundraising and yes, selfie parties.

Narrated by Judith Martin's daughter, Jacobina, I found her clear, poised and proper enunciation - with a wonderful hint of snarkiness! - to be easy on the ear and pitch perfect as the voice for <i>Miss Manners</i>. While the letters and responses have been organized into broader categories, the format makes it easy for listeners (and readers of the ebook or print format) to dip in and out for quick intervals of listening/reading.

Filled with sensible, common sense advice and delivered with humour and grace, I found myself nodding my head in agreement, snorting with laughter and occasionally gasping with shock at the situations presented. A wonderful refresher on the do's and don'ts of life and nice to learn that even as society continues to evolve and the online world takes control of our lives, something things, etiquette-wise, have remained unchanged.

With the advent of audiobooks being offered by netgalley, this was my first pick.
I came of age when Emily Post’s etiquette book was on my bookshelf and frequently referred to. I owned Miss Manners’s original book, which was published in 1982. But etiquette books seem to have gone the way of the dodo. So, I was curious to see what this current book would cover. As expected, we hear of Bridezillas, food fussiness, thank you notes, selfie parties, busy bodies and political correctness. But above all else, this book points out the overwhelming materialism of this society.
Now, this was a very entertaining read and I enjoyed it immensely. Miss Manners has a wonderful snarky wit, and she truly has a way with a bon mot. Her answers are based on plain old common sense and decency. Having said that, an etiquette book is by nature a reference book. And if you really intend to refer back to it, you’d want this as a book, not an audiobook. Obviously, we’ve moved on from how to structure a response to a wedding invitation. Gentle reader, I kid you not. Response cards are a recent phenomenon. But you might want to remember an appropriate turn of phrase. But if you’re just looking for entertainment, then yes, the audiobook will fit the bill.
Warning - I was listening to this on my walks and realized I was in danger of catching flies as my jaw seemed to be perpetually down around my clavicles.
Jacobina Martin, Judith’s daughter, is the narrator and she does a fine job.

Minding Miss Manners is a collection of etiquette dilemmas with answers in the traditional Miss Manners style & it brings Miss Manners’ advice up to date with questions such as “who has priority over the mobile chargers” and “how should I respond to this birthday gift list”. I really liked the way that Miss Manners discusses how so many people live in such a public/social media world that they don’t understand boundaries or privacy.
There were plenty of amusing moments, subtle “snark” and sharp responses that need to be filed away for future use! Some of the etiquette is American rather than British but there is much good advice.
The story is narrated by Jacobina Martin, the daughter of “Miss Manners” herself. Her voice worked well, but it felt too fast paced & could have benefitted from pauses between each “dilemma”. Overall, it is an amusing listen but if you want to refer back to it, you’d really need the printed book!
Disclosure: I received a copy of this audiobook free from the publisher via NetGalley. Whilst thanks go to the publisher & author for the opportunity to read it, all opinions are my own.

Everyone needs to listen to/read this book! It covers all current etiquette topics such as online and technology etiquette, hosting etiquette, how to deal with those friends who invite you to parties just to extort money off of you, and much more! The book is divided into 5 large chapters, each consisting of Q&As from Miss Manner’s readers and Miss Manners answering each questions. If you have a social life and ever had to deal with rude and obnoxious friends, like us all, you need a copy of this book.

I deducted 1 star because some questions were a little far-fetched.

Excellent narrator with different intonations in her voice, pleasant to the ear.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

Definitely an interesting book with the narrator doing a splendid job. I listened to the book on my scribd app. It’s a witty with interesting comebacks to nosy people with easy familiarity in the new social media friends. Many solutions are responses to the questions the author has received. I looking for the day I may use 1 or 2 responses/ suggestions by the author. Both the book and audio version are very good.

Are you the rude one? This question and more is answered in the updated for current times ?Minding Miss Manners. Both educational and funny this book is for anyone who wants to navigate today's social norms.