The Art of Southern Charm - Book Review
The Art of Southern Charm by Patricia Altschul was a random draw from the library bookshelf. The book is extremely well written and organize, I appreciate that when it comes to nonfiction. Its an easy read but there were a few points in the book where I felt a little insulted and mocked at other points. I had not heard of the Bravo TV show Southern Charm until I began reading the book. No, I will not be watching the show.
Some things I made note of was how to through an elegant cocktail party, how to properly host an event and how to care of quality clothing for longevity. I also appreciated that she values upholding tradition and honoring her roots . My favorite takeaway is her advice on navigating a social setting and interacting with different kinds of people; she shares the southern way it which I did find it charming and cheeky. And the idea of a dinner party gave me the serious feels! I could only image me, hubby and some of our other close couple friends having a nice elegant dinner cooked by me.
There were several other agreeable points made in the book but I thought that they seemed a bit dated. As a millennial, calling (actually speaking) to invite other millennials to a social gathering would prove empty. I also thought that too much judgement on a persons appearance was true but unnecessary. Who doesn't have tattoos and piercings? Unless, you're going to dine with the boss, the President or some other dignitary, I don't see the need to cover up or remove modish body jewelry.
Altschul's main focus is to educate her readers on the southern etiquette. The book is full of hidden gems but you have to sift through and compartmentalize statements such as "If you don't have a butler like I do...", "My butler had to leave Michigan because there weren't enough rich people who could maintain staff" and " I have all of my table linens especially made in Portugal" [see gif].
There are several moments like this were I had to stop, sigh and give a much deserved eye roll. It's clear this book is written as a plea to the wealthy new-money and almost (not quite) to the disregard of the average American- how many of us average Americans have a butler and get our table linens personally made in Portugal? Altschul makes her Sh*t smell nice with a little humility thrown in here and there.
I also hated that she felt the need to define common words like debacle, haiku and banal among others but she assumes her readers know what haricots verts are (fancy green beans).
I would not choose this book as my "go to" for all things proper but it had enough information to keep me interested until the very end,
Some things I made note of was how to through an elegant cocktail party, how to properly host an event and how to care of quality clothing for longevity. I also appreciated that she values upholding tradition and honoring her roots . My favorite takeaway is her advice on navigating a social setting and interacting with different kinds of people; she shares the southern way it which I did find it charming and cheeky. And the idea of a dinner party gave me the serious feels! I could only image me, hubby and some of our other close couple friends having a nice elegant dinner cooked by me.
There were several other agreeable points made in the book but I thought that they seemed a bit dated. As a millennial, calling (actually speaking) to invite other millennials to a social gathering would prove empty. I also thought that too much judgement on a persons appearance was true but unnecessary. Who doesn't have tattoos and piercings? Unless, you're going to dine with the boss, the President or some other dignitary, I don't see the need to cover up or remove modish body jewelry.
Altschul's main focus is to educate her readers on the southern etiquette. The book is full of hidden gems but you have to sift through and compartmentalize statements such as "If you don't have a butler like I do...", "My butler had to leave Michigan because there weren't enough rich people who could maintain staff" and " I have all of my table linens especially made in Portugal" [see gif].
There are several moments like this were I had to stop, sigh and give a much deserved eye roll. It's clear this book is written as a plea to the wealthy new-money and almost (not quite) to the disregard of the average American- how many of us average Americans have a butler and get our table linens personally made in Portugal? Altschul makes her Sh*t smell nice with a little humility thrown in here and there.I also hated that she felt the need to define common words like debacle, haiku and banal among others but she assumes her readers know what haricots verts are (fancy green beans).
I would not choose this book as my "go to" for all things proper but it had enough information to keep me interested until the very end,
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