Artscatter – a terrific arts and culture blog that just celebrated its first blogoversary – stirred up some punctuation passion the other day. This reminded me to post my mini-review of Lynne Truss's quirky punctuation guide, Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.
It is easy to understand the popularity of this book, because it is far from a typical grammar primer. Truss leans more to anecdote than rote – her guide is sort of a Bridget Jones version of Elements of Style. She uses lots of good examples ("cute" may be more accurate) and is good about pointing out the differences between British and American usage.
Although aimed at punctuation sticklers, Eats, Shoot & Leaves would be an entertaining introduction for the punctuation-challenged. It covers all the basic punctuation marks and rules, but not the trickier stuff.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Review of the Day: Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Artscatter – a terrific arts and culture blog that just celebrated its first blogoversary – stirred up some punctuation passion the other day. This reminded me to post my mini-review of Lynne Truss's quirky punctuation guide, Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.
It is easy to understand the popularity of this book, because it is far from a typical grammar primer. Truss leans more to anecdote than rote – her guide is sort of a Bridget Jones version of Elements of Style. She uses lots of good examples ("cute" may be more accurate) and is good about pointing out the differences between British and American usage.
Although aimed at punctuation sticklers, Eats, Shoot & Leaves would be an entertaining introduction for the punctuation-challenged. It covers all the basic punctuation marks and rules, but not the trickier stuff.
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I read this a few years ago and it was a little too "cute" for my taste.
ReplyDelete... but maybe it's a good beginner. I mentioned it to my kids, 11 and 14, and they gave me the eye-rolling "we know all about THAT, Dad," treatment, the one that lets you know they know you're a moron but choose to think kindly of you, anyway.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout-out to Art Scatter!
Thank you for the lovely comment you left on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI have never read eat shoots and leaves maybe its one to add to my ever growing pile of books. Unfortunatly it takes about 2 months to read a book lately because of children but I will get there.
Thanks for visiting Troutbirder. I must say your omivorous reading puts me to shame. I don't personally know anyone who reads as much as I have since I was a young teenager. You have certainly topped that thought. I started my nature blog about a year ago and recently decided I needed to branch out to reading and travel, thus Troutbirder II. I will be have for new ideas on good reading. Thanks a lot.
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