Eat, Shoots and Leaves.
It’s taken me nearly two years to read this book. One because I was studying at uni and two I didn’t really have a lot of time to read anything that didn’t immediately grab my attention. I thought I’d give this a chance. So I read it, it wasn’t as easy to read in the 13 minute gap I had to and from work but it was surprisingly witty and hooked me in. Eats. Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss is definitely a book I’d recommend for any grammarians out there and you wan’t to know why?
I didn’t hate it.
That’s right. I didn’t hate it. I thought I would because having someone tell me how to do something in any sort of way that isn’t a suggestion tends to make me resist like there’s no tomorrow. So I sat down to read it thinking I may learn a few things here and there but I didn’t expect to take a lot more than that. I’m still learning how to apply a lot of what I read but punctuation makes sense to me, finally. I get why we need to use a semi colon and why it’s lost on a lot of people. I’ve learnt how to use a list properly and what em dashes and en dashes really do.
Eats, Shoots and Leaves has revolutionised the way I use punctuation.
I feel like a changed writer. Like I have a new lease on life, so to speak. If there are writer’s out there who want to better their punctuation skills READ THIS BOOK. Lynne Truss has a way of explaining things that makes it so easy and simple to follow, not to mention there are some witty as all hell anecdotes and commentary that make it a very amusing read.
My next books on my journey to self knowledge is The Little Green Books – another from the list of books I should have read in Uni (oops) – and Naming the World, which is a book I’m trying to get through to try and come up with why naming titles are so hard. So stay tuned for that. Remember Sharing Sunday’s is coming up!
Mandi Kontos
Mandi is a writer, reader, dreamer and is breaking procrastinating inner editors, one at a time.
4 Comments
toconnell88
I stalled on this, but it’s good fun. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling Truss (like Anne Lamott) was in love with her own voice. She’s excessively condescending at times, and that sort of jarred. My gf, who’s not a writer, read the first few chapters hoping to improve her grammar, but felt like Truss was patronising with her barrage of grammar ‘in jokes’.
Good book, but it seems like Truss gets a thrill out of patronising, rather than instructing, those who don’t have a grammarian’s grasp on her subject. In short: a book that celebrates grammar, written by and for those in the Grammar Sticklers’ Club.
Mandi
Ha! I really didn’t pay much attention to that. I really don’t tend. Maybe I’m just naive but I just read a book for it and forget about the really bad condescending tones. It must be because I know so many people who are just condescending and I think of it as almost second nature, but I can totally see where that is coming from. I don’t plan to EVER read this book again. So that’s a plus!
toconnell88
To be fair, I haven’t even finished it and I’m overly sensitive to that sort of thing. Truss’ personality, which I’m whinging about, is also what made it entertaining and, therefore, bearable. Readers are more likely to absorb lessons if they’re engaged by the writing.
It’s good that you’re reading technical craft books in your own time 🙂
Mandi
Yeah, I don’t blame you. Do it a your own speed. It’s helpful though, which is nice. I’m finding it much easier to actually take in and read the technical craft books away from uni, which is weird for me haha.