swingbeat: 3/26: Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss, 209pp.
Lynne Truss talks about punctuation in a witty and clever manner, and readers actually learn things along the way. She waxes about the decline of punctuation in society, but she's not one of those uber-sticklers - she understands that language evolvs over time.
Truss presents a history of various punctuation marks (which is more interesting than it sounds), and also gives real-life humorous examples of misplaced punctuation (some with far-reaching consequences).
"On the page, punctuation performs its grammatical function, but in the mind of the reader it does more than that. It tells the reader how to hum the tune."
Truss's style is eloquent, and the reader doesn't get bored. Did you know that punctuation was originally used in Greece, to indicate to actors when to take a breath. And that back when the Bible was written, punctuation didn't exist in Hebrew? Take look at this:
"Verily, I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." (dude will go to heaven today)
"Verily, I say unto thee this day, Thou shalt be with me in Paradise." (dude will go to heaven someday, opening the way for Purgatory).
also:
"Comfort ye my people" (dude, go and comfort my people)
"Comfort ye, my people" (comfort yourselves, people)
She then goes on and describes a punctuation mark per chapter, humorously. I won't ruin the analogies and imagery she uses to describe them (As an example: commas are sheepdogs, keeping words in their place, rounding them up, etc.) but they are worth reading and help describe to the reader how particular punctuation should be thought of as.
Finally, she talks a bit about the Intrenet (not from a Luddite point of view, thankfully), and makes humorous comments on emoticons and keyboards :). This book has taken a familiar subject to most of us and brings up some new ideas about punctuation, and I laughed aloud at some parts (British witty humor).
Recommended. Took me two days to read.
Truss presents a history of various punctuation marks (which is more interesting than it sounds), and also gives real-life humorous examples of misplaced punctuation (some with far-reaching consequences).
"On the page, punctuation performs its grammatical function, but in the mind of the reader it does more than that. It tells the reader how to hum the tune."
Truss's style is eloquent, and the reader doesn't get bored. Did you know that punctuation was originally used in Greece, to indicate to actors when to take a breath. And that back when the Bible was written, punctuation didn't exist in Hebrew? Take look at this:
"Verily, I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." (dude will go to heaven today)
"Verily, I say unto thee this day, Thou shalt be with me in Paradise." (dude will go to heaven someday, opening the way for Purgatory).
also:
"Comfort ye my people" (dude, go and comfort my people)
"Comfort ye, my people" (comfort yourselves, people)
She then goes on and describes a punctuation mark per chapter, humorously. I won't ruin the analogies and imagery she uses to describe them (As an example: commas are sheepdogs, keeping words in their place, rounding them up, etc.) but they are worth reading and help describe to the reader how particular punctuation should be thought of as.
Finally, she talks a bit about the Intrenet (not from a Luddite point of view, thankfully), and makes humorous comments on emoticons and keyboards :). This book has taken a familiar subject to most of us and brings up some new ideas about punctuation, and I laughed aloud at some parts (British witty humor).
Recommended. Took me two days to read.
posted by Jay at 3:57 PM
2 Comments:
Good book!
I saw this book in the store and was intrigued. It actually hit the top ten best-seller list (in Great Britain, at least), if I remember correctly.
Now that you've reminded me of it and given it a thumbs up, I'll look for it in the library.
thanks.
LOVE this book! think she has a sequel out now too...
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