Canter Bridge

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Two Nashville gentlemen who have mastered the task of teaching men to be gentlemen without coming across as stuffy wrote this splendid little volume on the art of the toast. As in the rest of the Gentlemanners books, John Bridges and Bryan Curtis set a tone that is not framed by rules but by consideration for others and deference to those who ought to be in the limelight of a special occasion.

The book uses a comparative method. On the left of each set of two pages is presented an appropriate toast for a named occasion. On the right is the kind of words that ought to be avoided in the same venue.

The result is a kind of training primer that does not so much offer boilerplate language as it does develop in the mind of the reader a sensitivity towards propriety.

This reviewer highly recommends this book to anyone, man or woman, who may be called upon to say a few special words at any number of public occasions and who would like to acquit himself or herself with both polish and appropriate deference.

I trust the movers behind the Gentlemanners series will continue their production apace.