Gracious

A Practical Primer on Charm, Tact, and Unsinkable Strength

By: Kelly Williams Brown

Narrated by: Kelly Williams Brown

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling author of Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps comes a funny, charming guide to modern civility in these - yes, we'll say it - rather uncivil times.

Graciousness is practicing the arts of kindness, thoughtfulness, good manners, humanity, and basic decency. As a bonus, it makes your life and even the world (or at least the room you're in) much lovelier.

It's not about memorizing every rule of traditional etiquette to a T (though there is so much there to explore!) or spending all your time maintaining a spotless house. It's about approaching the world with compassion, conviction, self-confidence, and wholeheartedness, whether you're at the Met Gala or saying good morning to a convenience store clerk.

From chatting easily with anyone to mastering the subtleties of social media etiquette (hint: block early, block often), Brown has talked to gracious women and men all over the country to give you easy ways to embody your own graciousness.

Throughout the book, she provides tips on how to deal with the people and circumstances that challenge even the most socially graceful among us, advice on how to practice graciousness in everyday life, and thoughtful discussions on being kind to those around you without ever losing your sense of self.

With the wisdom of gracious folk ranging from celebrities to the author's mother-in-law, this book explains the perspective, actions - and, sometimes, inaction - that help us move smoothly and effectively through whatever life tosses at us.

©2017 Kelly Williams Brown (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Graciousness is Bigger than I Thought

Loved all of it! Already started to listen again. Kelly presents a holistic concept for living with a very, funny, light hearted way. Lots of great suggestions on how to live a happier life and be good to myself and everyone I come in contact with. I've already start to change my mind and practice graciousness in every interaction. Her suggestions give me confidence to go into the scariest situations. Thank you for this book! : )

Witty and informative!

I wish all young people would read or listen to this book!!! It was a lovely, modern, and timely reminder of how to present your best self to the world!! The narration was funny and very well done! I very much recommend!!!

So Worthy!!

I absolutely LOVED listening to this book!❤️
I have often referred to the many, meaningful snippets of information that were refreshed in my mind through the author’s terrific point of view!!

It was good!

I called my manager and got permission to end my voice-mails with, "bye-bye!"

-Laughed so freaking hard. I'll re-listen.

Good and funny read presented delightfully.

I really enjoyed this she did her homework. I laughed, I cried, I wrote a thank you note.
Her small and great insights into common decency are definitely doable acts and she has a way of delivering this in a manner resembling a close friend.

Beautiful cover design

Tremendous first effort. This would have worked better as a memoir. I struggled with some of the advice, attempts at high grammar, and narration.

Approachable, current, and fun!

I loved every tip and trick in this book and how the information was conveyed through woman she has interviewed versus through her own personal experience which is what makes this book so approachable I think. It's the perfect blend of things you could have learned from your great grandma and advice your best friend would give you. I found the tips on negotiations particularly helpful and have already put them into practice successfully. I already feel more confident in conversations with new people and when I'm consistently practicing the techniques in the book, I actually feel more joyful with my life over all. I finished this book, and immediately started it over again because I want to be sure I don't miss a thing!

Note: The narration is perfect, so perfect that I don't mind putting this book on repeat and listening to her voice for another 7 hours.

Best friend chat

I loved this book it’s like your bff is chatting you up in a very informative and funny way. Will read a couple of more times because it’s that good

Wow! Don't miss it!

I liked this so much, I bought the hard copy, Kindle and emailed friends to listen/read. It's that good. Has sensible and practical advice for the many situations of life. I listened straight through. Ordinarily I genuinely dislike narrators who add all sort of emphasis and pauses and end sentences with a question mark when the author wrote a period. However, the author narrated, so she has the authority to do this. No matter your gender or age, listen to this book. If you have a few irritating situations in your life, or you need to tighten up your life in some parameter, listen to this book. Zero preachy or religious, just plain useful information for handling life with a modicum of dignity and ease.

Some insights and some tedious reviews on a theme.

The writer offers good tips for avoiding negative people but gets involved in some concepts of mindfulness and the drag queens life skills that hit me as way too permissive for reality. There is time to say unhealthy is not a coping mechanism.