Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss (4.5 of 5 Overburdened Commas)

This "Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" is hilarious; if you haven't read it, go find it - now, unless you're doing laundry or cooking, which everyone knows are things that you can't just put down and walk away because you'll find that your shirts will be all wrinkled or your rice will be crusty on the bottom of the pan!

I suppose there are many grammar books out there that can tell you what was wrong with that first paragraph (and all of the following paragraphs). That which makes this book so special is the unique voice that the author brings to the book. Yes, she'll outline the basic rules of grammar, but no, it's not boring.

Frankly, I learned more from her examples of incorrect usages and general principles. One of my favorite passages was her summary of the purposes of each of the marks of punctuation. She writes, "in the family..." Ah poop. I wrote down the page number in my notes, but I just realized that I took the book back to the library last week. Oh well. Go get your book out. It's on page 137.

I'd like to meet this woman, but I have a sneaking suspicion that she might be a tad intimidating. Her best advice for using commas is, "don't use the comma like a stupid person." Oh well. Go take a look at the emails you got today. The world could surely use more people like her.