Reviews

A delightful discourse on the most common grammar, punctuation, and usage challenges faced by writers of all stripes Norris writes with wit, sass, and smarts. "

Mary Norris is the verbal diagnostician I would turn to for a first, second, or third opinion on just about anything. --John McPhee, in The New Yorker"

An educational, entertaining narrative Unforgettable anecdotes Countless laugh-out-loud passages A funny book for any serious reader. "

Between You & Me is smart and funny and soulful and effortlessly illuminating. --Ian Frazier"

Mary Norris brings a tough-minded, clear-eyed, fine-tuned wisdom to all the perplexities and traps and terrors of the English sentence. --Adam Gopnik"

There is so much to be learned from Mary Norris's marvelous memoir: she tells us when to hyphenate a compound noun, shows whether to employ the subjunctive, and elucidates the suggestively named copulative verb. But she is no dry guardian of grammar, no punitive Poobah of punctuation. In giving an account of her journey from provincial obscurity to the glamour of New York and The New Yorker she offers a warm, tender, and funny coming of age story. (Or possibly it's a 'coming-of-age' story. Mary could tell you.) --Rebecca Mead"

A delightful mix of autobiography, New Yorker lore, and good language sense. --Ben Yagoda"

For years I thought that, because Mary Norris and I are both from Cleveland, she shared her amazing knowledge of grammar only with me. Now I see she s letting the whole world in on it. I guess that s okay. Her book is so smart and funny and soulful and effortlessly illuminating, and she herself is so generous and great what else could she do? Still, I wish she d told me. --Ian Frazier"

Mary Norris is a grammar geek with a streak of mischief, and her book is obscenely fun. --Marilyn Johnson"

There is so much to be learned from Mary Norris s marvelous memoir: she tells us when to hyphenate a compound noun, shows whether to employ the subjunctive, and elucidates the suggestively named copulative verb. But she is no dry guardian of grammar, no punitive Poobah of punctuation. In giving an account of her journey from provincial obscurity to the glamour of New York and the New Yorker she offers a warm, tender, and funny coming of age story. (Or possibly it s a coming-of-age story. Mary could tell you.) --Rebecca Mead"

This is as entertaining as grammar can be. Very very. Read it and savor it. --Garrison Keillor"