The Southern Belle's Handbook: Sissy LeBlanc's Rules to Live by

This little gift book, following TV writer Despres's 2001 novel The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc (Sissy lived by the titular code) and packaged in a vaguely cocktail-nation design schema, aims to define a new ""southern belle"" through pithy rules of living. While the general profile that emerges is slightly more liberated than the antebellum stereotype, the edicts are generally goofy and sometimes a little confused, tacking from warmed-over Ben Franklin (""Men always find themselves the most fascinating subject of any conversation. When in doubt, let him talk about himself. He'll think you're a brilliant conversationalist"") to reheated Oscar Wilde (""A girl doesn't have to give in to temptation but she might not get another chance""). Dictating equal parts subservience (""Laugh at his wit, and he'll admire your sense of humor""), naughtiness (""A girl can stand just so much virtue"") and outright nonsense (""Sometimes doing good can be delightfully bad""--whatever that means), this book is short on authentic advice, but long on kitschy appeal.