I had seen the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves on the shelf in our local library some time back, but did not think to pick it up until I heard Grammar Girl mention it and it seemed like a fascinating book.

The theme of the book is punctuation. As boring as that may sound, it was actually a very enjoyable book to read. The author, Lynne Truss, is a very enjoyable writer. The book is obviously British and you can see that in her writing style. She did a fairly good job at pointing out the differences between British and American punctuation. I read the North American version of the book.

She had very humorous examples in the book to illustrate her points. One was a precious love letter that completely changed meaning when just the punctuation was re-arranged. The second version was a vitriolic letter to a spurned lover.

If you are not at all interested in grammar and proper punctuation, then this is not the book for you. It would definitely take a certain kind of geek to enjoy it. Which, by the way, I did immensely.

Categories: Books