{"id":7393,"date":"2009-07-01T15:03:17","date_gmt":"2009-07-01T22:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/?p=7393"},"modified":"2022-03-07T09:49:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T17:49:07","slug":"book-review-gothic-charm-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2009\/07\/01\/book-review-gothic-charm-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Gothic Charm School"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gothic<\/a> Gothic Charm School: An Essential Guide for Goths and Those Who Love Them<\/a> by Jillian Venters<\/a><\/p>\n

My review<\/a> rating: 4 of 5 stars<\/h3>\n

Simply put, this should be highly recommended, if not required reading, not just for goths, but also for anyone curious about the goth community, whether because they are personally interested or because they have an acquaintance, friend, or loved one (spouse, significant other, boy- or girlfriend, relative, child, or secret crush) who counts themselves among the spooky set.<\/p>\n

Miss Manners’ more somber-dressed and bat-festooned doppelg\u00e4nger, the Lady of the Manners, has adapted from and expanded upon columns from her long-running website<\/a> and assembled a delightful collection of advice for the goth and goth-friendly. Covering everything from the basics (“The difference between being a Goth, a NotAGoth, and not being a Goth yourself but being Goth-friendly”) to social etiquette both online (“The Internet is not Real Life (with an aside about the Great Flounce-Off)”) and off (“What to do when people ask why you’re dressed like that”) to parenting (“How to show support to your babygoth<\/em> or babybat<\/em> without relinquishing the keys to the hearse, and everything you need to know to Not Freak Out”), Gothic Charm School<\/em> quickly becomes, in many small and a few not-so-small ways, the very “Goth handbook” that the Lady of the Manners so often reminds us does not exist.<\/p>\n

I can’t go back in time twenty years and hand this book to my teenaged self (more’s the pity), but I can<\/em>quite heartily recommend this to both old and new members of the goth community, as well as those around them who just might not quite get it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

View all my reviews.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Following are a couple of short excerpts, collecting some of the Lady of the Manners own recommendations for further reading, viewing, and listening:<\/p>\n

Babybat<\/em>-friendly books the Lady of the Manners recommends:<\/strong><\/p>\n