Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer

(This one gets its own post, owing partly to how aggravatingly long it took me to read.)

My dad bought me this for my birthday (which is in July) I think partly because I'm an English teacher and partly because I have an annoyingly difficult time with grammar. Truly, I want things to make consistent sense and English grammar just doesn't. I have made my peace with that (mostly) and commiserate (often) with my students over this.

I walked into this week thinking that this relatively small tome (for an English usage guide) would only take me a day or so to finish. I was wrong. It's Thursday; I just finished. Feh. So how did this happen? How did I let a sub-300-page book take me six days? I have only one explanation:

It's damn funny.

Seriously, who reads a grammar and usage text and . . . giggles. I've been giggling all week. Annoyed, yet amused. Ryan reminds me that at its core, this is a book of lists; annotated lists. That's true. Generally, one doesn't read a style book cover to cover. (You look for whatever arcane rule you need, and move on with life.) I think Dreyer wrote this with the idea of people reading it as a complete work, yet it is, at the core, an annotated list of grammar and usage rules which is why it took me so long to slog through.

It would also work very well as a reference text. (I'm not sure that's a compliment.) It is hilarious. (That one was a compliment. . . just checking) It's tough  to read straight through. (You decide.)

Ok, really. If you've ever been frustrated with the seemingly contradictory rules of English usage and grammar, even for a moment, this is the text for you. Dreyer is remarkably unstuffy about an incredibly stuffy subject. While I commit many grammatical sins, reading this made me feel justified in a few of them. There are few actual rules in English. The rest is convention. I've suspected this for years; it's nice to have it confirmed.

This is good stuff.

Read the stuff.

Read it.