Monday, July 14, 2008

Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss

Subtitled The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.
Published in 2003. 209 pages (including Bibliography).
British Book Award Winner in 2004.

I started Eats, Shoots & Leaves last summer, when Sugar Bear and I read Truss' children's book The Girl's Like Spaghetti. I got sidetracked for some reason in the intervening months, but I have now finished it.

As one who is disturbed by the improper use of punctuation marks, I found Truss' book - especially her sense of humor - to be delightful. As she writes, "If there is one lesson to be learned from this book it is that there is never a dull moment in the world of punctuation" [page 125]. Although I suspect it won't appeal to everyone, if you've ever wanted to take a marker to an advertisement or if you think you'd enjoy learning about obscure points in punctuation history, I think you'll enjoy this book.

If you have read and reviewed this book, I would love to link your review here. Please leave me a comment or email me your link!

2008.41

8 comments:

  1. This sounds like one I need to get for my hubby - he has the same problems with improper punctuation!

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  2. I thought this book was hysterically funny! As someone who's obsessed with punctuation and grammar, I thought this book was exceptionally good.

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  3. That's a great book embee has it.

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  4. This book has long intrigued me, but I've never picked it up. I love grammar and punctuation, but I didn't think I was up for a "dry" read. Though the title along was a good indication that this would be more fun, I'd never really read anyone's thoughts on the book. Well, thanks to you, the wish list now gets longer.

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  5. Is there anything more stressful than writing a review for a punctuation book? I'll bet you reread and previewed your post a lot before publishing. Great review - it was a fun little book.

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  6. Fun little book, indeed. Here's my review:

    http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/2008/05/eats-shoots-and-leaves-by-lynne-truss.html

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  7. I just finished it and it made me feel so bad. Honestly my use of punctuation is all over the place! I am trying to rectify matters.

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  8. I did enjoy the book and educational in a fun way. :)

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