Thursday, October 23, 2008

Eats, Shoots & Leaves - review

For anyone who cringes every time they see a sign for 'fresh' fruit; for anyone terrified by the effect of txt msgng on the English language; for anyone still brave enough to (correctly) use the colon, semicolon and parenthesis - Eats, Shoots and Leaves is the book for you!

Fed up with illiterate grocery-store signs, movie titles and Gertrude Stein, Lynne Truss decided that it was time to make the case for proper punctuation. One by one, she takes us into the history of each mark, its uses (both modern and outmoded) and misuses. Peppered with examples which are often hysterical and sometimes horrifying, Ms. Truss points out the very real reasons why it is important to maintain a decent grasp of grammar.

In all, I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an equal love of language and laughter.

*It is also a perfect read for anyone about to take on the NaNoWriMo challenge.

2 comments:

MATTHEW said...

I was kind of annoyed at these "puncuation books" when they sprouted up. But you've convinced me. Thanks Nick!

MATTHEW said...

I meant to say that You've convinced me to read it, not that I was further convinced to be annoyed. Sorry for the confusion.