Synopses & Reviews
Mary Norris has spent more than three decades in
The New Yorker's copy department, maintaining its celebrated high standards. Now she brings her vast experience, good cheer, and finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in a boisterous language book as full of life as it is of practical advice.
Between You & Me features Norris's laugh-out-loud descriptions of some of the most common and vexing problems in spelling, punctuation, and usage — comma faults, danglers, "who" vs. "whom," "that" vs. "which," compound words, gender-neutral language — and her clear explanations of how to handle them. Down-to-earth and always open-minded, she draws on examples from Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, Henry James, and the Lord's Prayer, as well as from The Honeymooners, The Simpsons, David Foster Wallace, and Gillian Flynn. She takes us to see a copy of Noah Webster's groundbreaking Blue-Back Speller, on a quest to find out who put the hyphen in Moby-Dick, on a pilgrimage to the world's only pencil-sharpener museum, and inside the hallowed halls of The New Yorker and her work with such celebrated writers as Pauline Kael, Philip Roth, and George Saunders.
Readers — and writers — will find in Norris neither a scold nor a softie but a wise and witty new friend in love with language and alive to the glories of its use in America, even in the age of autocorrect and spell-check. As Norris writes, "The dictionary is a wonderful thing, but you can't let it push you around."
Review
"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
Review
"Mary Norris is a grammar geek with a streak of mischief, and her book is obscenely fun." Marilyn Johnson
Review
"This is as entertaining as grammar can be. Very very. Read it and savor it." Garrison Keillor
Review
"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
Review
"No dry guardian of grammar, no punitive Poobah of punctuation, Norris offers a warm, tender, and funny coming-of-age story." Rebecca Mead
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"An educational, entertaining narrative....Unforgettable anecdotes....Countless laugh-out-loud passages....A funny book for any serious reader." Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
Review
"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." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
The most irreverent and helpful book on language since the #1 New York Times bestseller Eats, Shoots & Leaves.
About the Author
Mary Norris began working at The New Yorker in 1978. Originally from Cleveland, she now lives in New York.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Mary Norris