Notable: Help yourself

By Colette Bancroft, Times Book Editor
In print: Sunday, March 30, 2008

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Notable

Help yourself

These three guidebooks will make you laugh and feel smarter at the same time.

Going Dutch in Beijing: How to Behave Properly When Far Away From Home (Henry Holt), by Mark McCrum, is a traveler's guide for avoiding such gaffes as riding in a taxi's back seat in Australia or chewing gum in Singapore.

Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs Even If You're Right (Penguin), by June Casagrande, classifies errors as not only "grammatical" and "ungrammatical" but "fatty" and "a linguistic crime of such magnitude that it causes more rage than L.A. traffic and Simon Cowell combined."

The Perfect Insult for Every Occasion: Lady Snark's Guide to Common Discourtesy (Adams Media), by A.C. Kemp, uses the time-honored Q&A format of etiquette guides to poke satisfying fun at everything from unwelcome questions to coming-out parties (don't ask).

Colette Bancroft, Times book editor