Conversations, particularly with new acquaintances, can be uncomfortable for me, so I decided to read this book. I found reassuring tips in its pages, written in a style that felt like a pleasant conversation. The early chapters helped me at a recent conference, and I plan to employ the lessons in later chapters during more challenging situations. I only wish more people subscribed to the values and followed the guidelines in this book; I would have far more civilized conversations if they did!

I knocked off one star because I believe that it is entirely possible to be poised with tattoos or brightly-dyed hair. Other than that, this is an inspiring little book that affirmed my efforts to try to be a better and more graceful version of myself. Scott makes a compelling case for the need for good deportment, although some might see her views as stuffy or old-fashioned.

Charming, witty, packed with allusions, and bound up in the Modern sensibility I had forgotten I love. Excellent companion reading to A Room of One's Own, as Orlando also is at least partially concerned with the effects of society on gender and of gender on writing. (Judith Shakespeare's seducer, Nick Greene, even shows up.) This edition contains helpful and unobtrusive endnotes and an introduction that I suggest reading after the novel so as to avoid spoilers and enjoy the book on its own merits before you begin digging in and analyzing it. I'm now daydreaming about teaching this novel in a class someday.

An unbearably beautiful book. Read for the first time when I was a junior (senior?) in college, and reread now, about seven years later, for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.

Strange and lovely. I think I could reread and think about this book for years and never quite unravel it, because its mysteries are like those of love itself. They rise from themselves, unexplainable, their parts whole and absolute.