Book Review #55

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynn Truss

Oh my lord. I read the back of this book in a Discovery Store at an airport and was enchanted. Then I read some of the inside and loved that too. I was deliciously horrified by Truss' accounts of people's misuses of commas and apostrophes.

The problem came when I sat down to read the book in its entirety. I mean, I'm in a Facebook group called "I judge you when you use poor grammar." I'm a heckler when I see people misusing their theres or withholding apostrophes from contractions--but I draw the line at going around town with an apostrophe on a stick to point out people's mistakes. I'm already weird enough as it is.

I think Truss could have saved things if she'd only stopped rambling. I can see swatting away at every ball coming at you on a tennis court because it might work out for you every once in awhile but I cannot see banging away at your keyboard with every silly thought you have if you don't intend to edit yourself later. And furthermore, I agree that good grammar is important for proper understanding of the written word but let's not be colossal nerds about it.

General consensus: Read the back and you're good to go. If you must learn some fun facts about grammar then feel free to crack the book open but don't feel pressured to read every word.