Books about Excruciatingly from Amazon.com

Miss Manners' down-to-earth collection of wisdom and pithy wit is a joy to read. Under the chapter on Table Manners, she notes "the inevitable slippage of spaghetti from the fork back onto the plate is Nature's way of controlling human piggishness" and suggests "a quick motion of the wrist, such as one uses to shake down a thermometer, will remove excess ketchup" from French fries. From common courtesy and proper attire to the etiquette of weddings, Martin knows right from wrong and sensible from rude. But this is no prissy, preachy tome. Miss Manners is very funny and has impressive insight into life. .
Price: $19.94 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This comprehensive dictionary of common misusages lays bare the mistakes we all make every day. Robert Hartwell Fiske, the grumbling grammarian of our time, shows you the definitive right way and wrong way to use language--and illustrates why dictionaries don't always provide the correct meaning or usage of a word.

Eliminate laxity in language today by learning from this witty and engaging reference that not only provides you with correct usages, but also explains the worst malapropian sins of public figures and major publications..
Price: $1.48 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In this, the third and final (?) installment of the Martha Stuart parody trilogy, authors Tom Connor and Jim Downey unleash their preppy doppelganger on weddings The results are predictably hysterical, with the Stepford caterer dominating every aspect of a Connecticut nuptial. This from the "Wedding Planner" (subtitled "Things I Insist You Remember"):

Five Years Before: set season and weekend; Indenture Third World seamstresses; finish hybriding rose named after yourself...

One Year Before: Draft pre-nuptials; book me as caterer; if you have favorite foods or family recipes that you might want to incorporate, forget about them...

Six Months Before: Learn fiancé's name; try one last time for Beatles reunion; stop calling me...

As you can see from this passage, Connor and Downey have perfected the voice of their monstrous Martha. Every page yields good fun at the expense of the Octopus of Style, while pointing to the insane, expensive, neurotic process of getting married in this day and age. Even better are Barry O'Rourke's photos, which reproduce Martha's sumptuous books exactly. Put the writing and the photos together, and you have a well-executed parody. If the jokes aren't new by the third time around, that won't matter to the harried bride or the hopeless husband-to-be; if you've ever planned a wedding or are in the middle of nuptial hell right now, this book is perfect. "Today, there are a multitude of alternate throwables. Rock candy is particularly painful. Fava beans have a very unpredictable flight path. And kidney beans can be easily confused with a swarm of stinging bees..." --Michael Gerber.
Price: $1.23 [Notify me when price goes down.]