Spotlight: "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves"

First, I have to take something off my book list. You may call it cheating, but there is some logic to this: I am removing Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life. It's ironic that I can't finish reading a book that is all about getting things done. So... let's just strike it off the list so that I can pick it up whenever I feel like it, shall we?

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to pay homage to the nerd in me by celebrating the fact that I have finished reading Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss.

As the title suggests, the book is all about punctuation marks. The very title is derived from a joke about punctuation:

A panda walked into a cafe. He ordered a sandwich, ate it, then pulled out a gun and shot the waiter. 'Why?' groaned the injured man. The panda shrugged, tossed him a badly punctuated wildlife manual and walked out. And sure enough, when the waiter consulted the book, he found an explanation. 'Panda,' ran the entry for his assailant. 'Large black and white mammal native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'

I found myself giggling at the joke, and knew that I was the right market for this book. Add to that the first paragraph that read:

Either this will ring bells for you, or it won't. A printed banner has appeared on the concourse of a petrol station near to where I live. "Come inside," it says, "for CD's, VIDEO's, DVD's, and BOOK's."

If this satanic sprinkling of redundant apostrophes causes no little gasp of horror or quickening of the pulse, you should probably put down this book at once.

Of course, I didn't put it down; I went and bought it. Truss is able to talk about the proper use of punctuation marks while educating the reader on the origins of such marks, all in a very light and humorous tone. It's not an instruction book, that's for sure, but it does make you think twice about how you punctuate your sentences.

It's also interesting to note the nuances between British English and American English. One point of contention is the placement of the comma (or period, whichever is applicable) when it comes to quotes, such as the example Truss presents:

BRITISH: Sophia asked Lord Fellamar if he was "out of his senses".

AMERICAN: Sophia asked Lord Fellamar if he was "out of his senses."

It was here that I discovered that, as I subscribe to the first option, I punctuate in a British manner (at least, in this instance). But I spell using American English, preferring "color" to "colour" and "glamor" to "glamour" (although the latter does look pretty glamorous). She also points out that what Americans call "parentheses", the Brits call "brackets", and what the Americans call "brackets", they call "square brackets". Confusing much? The book can probably get confusing if you're an American or you prefer using American English, as Truss is herself a Brit.

All in all, it was a very enlightening read that every writer --or grammar stickler-- should indulge in. I will probably find myself rereading some chapters at leisure, especially the one on the semicolon and the colon.

My book list now stands at:

The 2009 Reading List
1. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
2. The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik
3. Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
4. A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern
5. If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern
6. Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
7. Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done by David Allen --stricken off the list
8. The Amber Room by Steve Berry
9. Doctors by Erich Segal
10. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
11. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
12. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
13. Prizes by Erich Segal
14. Live a Little by Kim Green
15. Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
16. Raising the Peaceable Kingdom by Jeffrey Maoussaieff Mason
17. Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
18. Something Blue by Emily Giffin
19. The Pact: A Love Story by Jodi Picoult
20. Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon
21. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner --New entry!

Yes, yes, I know that that's a new entry right there, but I've always been curious about this author. Upon seeing that Powerbooks was on sale, I succumbed and finally bought one of her books. But since I removed a book off the list, we're still at 20! And now, I have five books to go before I can say I'm done. As long as I don't add to it anymore (let's cross our hearts and hope to die), looks like I can finish this list before Christmas!

The best part is, it's a non-working holiday tomorrow and I get to recuperate in bed! With a good book, perhaps? We'll see! :)