Review by Choice Review
Popular grammar books such as Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (2003) and Woe Is I by Patricia T. O'Conner (2003) intend both to educate and to entertain. Norris's new memoir goes one further. As a staff member for The New Yorker for over three decades and, since 1993, a query proofreader--an editorial position unique to that publication--Norris shares her insights into the magazine's unique style and its evolving influence on American letters (particularly in its lavish use of commas). Norris is an omnivorous reader with a generous sensibility, looking to all sources, from Nobel laureate novelists to road signs to tweets, for cogent examples. Writers aspiring to correctness might not find this a traditional reference source for assistance in specific matters of grammar and style, but lovers of language in all its quirks are certain to recognize a kindred spirit. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries. All levels. --Laura R. Braunstein, Dartmouth College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
COPY EDITORS ARE a peculiar species (I've been one myself, and at the very publication you are now reading). But those at The New Yorker are something else entirely, a species nova that mutated into existence in 1925 and would hurl itself off a cliff rather than forsake the dieresis in "cooperate." For the uninitiated, The New Yorker is a magazine that until 2003 spelled the word "deluxe" with a hyphen: "de-luxe." It inserts periods into "I.B.M.," though IBM itself dropped them long ago. It phonetically splits the word "England," when it breaks at the end of a line, like this: "England." (One imagines a verb, "england," meaning to provide with glands.) A regular reader might be forgiven for wondering, "Are these people nuts?" In Mary Norris's "Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen," we have our answer: They most certainly are. And their obsessions, typographical and otherwise, make hilarious reading. Norris, a pillar of the copy department for decades, is not crazy herself, or not entirely. For instance, she knows when to stay her hand and let the writer's voice come through. She also admits occasionally doubting the sanity of The New Yorker's storied grammar goddess, Eleanor Gould Packard: "I had the unsettling thought 'What if Eleanor ever loses it?"' But what to do? "No one would enter the copy department and say to Eleanor, 'Drop the pencil and step away from the desk.'" "Between You & Me" is mostly a memoir, but it's part usage guide, too. Norris shares her views on spelling, punctuation, dangling participles and troublesome pronouns, providing apt illustrations from an editing life. V. S. Pritchett, we learn, was "a terrible speller," but "when Pauline Kael typed 'prevert' instead of 'pervert,' she meant 'prevert.'" James Salter adds control to a word "by smacking it with a comma as one would put English on a cue ball." And by judiciously placing a colon, "Kelefa Sanneh, writing about Scotch, can sound like Henry James." But the grammar advice is less illuminating. Norris defends a friend of hers who actually said, while looking for her sunglasses, "Are those they?" Mary, drop the pencil and step away from the desk. Yes, one may use "It is I" if one wishes, but "It is me" is faultless English. The old prescription requiring the nominative case after the verb "to be" has long been discredited as a Latin construction mistakenly applied to English. Despite the extreme grammar, this book charmed my socks off. Norris tracks down the person responsible for the hyphen in the title of "Moby-Dick" (it wasn't Melville). There's a chapter about dirty words, suitably salty. And Norris is passionate on the subject of pencils, describing them as seductively as others write about wine. Her current love is the "delicious" Blackwing, with its soft lead and flat eraser. On a pilgrimage to a pencil sharpener museum in Ohio (yes), only a sign warning that patrons were under surveillance, she writes, "kept me from dancing." Norris is a master storyteller and serves up plenty of inside stuff. When Mark Singer wrote an article about the cost of going to the movies and buying refreshments, the editors cut his reference to Junior Mints. As one editor intoned, "A New Yorker writer should not be eating Junior Mints." Norris tells of the night she mopped up after Lillian Ross's poodle, Goldie. She was even propositioned by Philip Roth! Well, sort of. She made a good catch in one of his pieces, and he replied: "Who is this woman? And will she come live with me?" She's been smitten ever since: "If he should ever read this I just want to say I'm still available." PATRICIA T. O'CONNER'S books on language include "Woe Is I" and, most recently, "Origins of the Specious," written with Stewart Kellerman. They blog about language at Grammarphobia.com.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [April 19, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review
Per comma queen Norris who worked at the New Yorker for three decades people tend to think that a copy editor is a bit of a witch. In this lighthearted and sparkling guidebook-memoir of being just such a witch, Norris tells of her first great catch (finding an error), disputes fussiness over everyday word usage (which will make many readers breathe easier), and provides succinct information on how to express oneself more clearly and accurately. She delves into the copulative (yes, she does), who versus whom, her friends in the dash family, and much more; and her lively tone and sense of humor ease the pain of focusing on what might never sink in and what might wind up changing in the future, especially with talking (and texting) allowing more latitude than the published word. Many care passionately about their punctuation being placed to perfection, and fans of Lynne Truss' Eats, Shoots and Leaves (2004) and those in the biz will be grateful for Norris' graciously sharing her fiefdom.--Kinney, Eloise Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Norris has spent more than 35 years in the New Yorker's legendary copy department, earning the nickname Comma Queen along the way. So it makes sense that her first book is a delightful discourse on the most common grammar, punctuation, and usage challenges faced by writers of all stripes. Not surprisingly, Norris writes well-with wit, sass, and smarts-and the book is part memoir, part manual. She recounts the history of Webster's Dictionary; explains when to use who vs. whom and that vs. which; distinguishes between the dash, colon, and the semicolon; delves into the comma and the hyphen; and weighs in on the use of profanity in writing. Norris also finds ways to reference the Lord's Prayer, the Simpsons, Moby-Dick, and, in a touching anecdote, her own sister. The New Yorker has an unconventional house style-for instance, the magazine uses diaeresis marks in words like coöperate, where the prefix (co-) ends in the same vowel used at the beginning of the stem (operate), to indicate that the vowels are pronounced differently-and, though Norris doesn't always agree with its strict style rules, readers may not agree with her ideas on language. But it's a sure bet that after reading this book, they'll think more about how and what they write. Agent: David Kuhn, Kuhn Projects. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Starred Review. Part memoir and part writing guide, Norris's thoughtful and humorous narrative provides an irreverent account of her days as a New Yorker comma queen as well as an insightful look into the history of the English language. With examples ranging from Webster's to Moby-Dick to the proper way to sharpen a pencil, Norris considers the technical aspects of spelling, punctuation, and usage in a manner that is both engaging and entertaining. Her rules are easy to follow, and her writing fast paced and smart, making this a great read for anyone interested in a refresher course on the elements of style. This is not your grade school primer; expect wisecracks and pointed commentary on the many ways in which we embarrass ourselves while trying to sound grammatically superior. VERDICT Norris's handy guide is for writers of all levels. A great addition to public and academic library collections that support writing groups or programs.-Gricel Dominguez, Florida International Univ. Lib. (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A New Yorker editor since 1978, Norris provides an educational, entertaining narrative about grammar, spelling and punctuation.The author devotes chapters to commas (who knew a printer more or less invented comma usage in 1490?); apostrophes; hyphens; the difference between "that" and "which"; the proper usage of "who" and "whom" (would Ernest Hemingway have published For Who the Bell Tolls?); dealing with profanity in a national magazine (a chapter in which Norris demonstrates that not all copy editors are prudish); which dictionary (if any) to rely on; and, as a bonus, an ode to pencils with and without erasers. Raised in the Cleveland area, Norris had a vague notion growing up of being a writer. But after attending college, she did not know how to proceed toward that goal, so she worked jobs that included delivering milk to homes, packaging cheese in a factory for sale to supermarkets and washing dishes in a restaurant. The possibility of an editing job at the New Yorker arose only because Norris' brother knew an important person there. Once at the New Yorker, the author engaged in spirited debates with more senior copy editors about all manner of decisions about grammar, punctuation and spelling. Though she observed the rules, she also began to realize that sometimes she had to compromise due to the fact that accomplished writers for the magazine followed their own logic. Norris delivers a host of unforgettable anecdotes about such famed New Yorker writers as Philip Roth, Pauline Kael, John McPhee and George Saunders. In countless laugh-out-loud passages, Norris displays her admirable flexibility in bending rules when necessary. She even makes her serious quest to uncover the reason for the hyphen in the title of the classic novel Moby-Dick downright hilarious. A funny book for any serious reader. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
