Being an English major I’ve read a few real gems about the subject. Of course there’s Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, and William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. I’ve also read Stephen King’s On Writing, which is a fantastic book. And my AP style guide is indispensable.
I’ve heard some good things about the recent bestseller Eats, Shoots and Leaves, but I’m not really interested in reading a British book on style.
Do any of you Dopers have favorites in this genre?
The best book on writing–not technical, but a book about finding what it is you want to say and how you want to say it:
If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland.
The second best book of that kind: Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott.
Best pocket size style manual. Read it occasionally to kind of lubricate your clarity: Elements of Style by Strunk and (E.B.) White.
The best source for final arguments on the gritty technicalities of grammar and compmosition: The Chicago Manual of Style.
Books that get me wanting to write: The Habit of Being, the letters of Flannery O’Connor. And anything by Shakespeare; *Hamlet *and *Lear *goose me the most.
For something a bit offbeat, two works of CS Lewis come to mind. His ‘Letters to Children’ includes quite a few replies to children who have read the Narnia books and want advice on how to write. A more academic approach is adopted in a book he wrote late in his life, ‘Studies in Words’, which deals, among much else, with issues such as verbicide, which he also talks about, in suitably more accessible terms, in his letters.
What are you planning to write? Besides the basics, there are good books on fiction writing and non-fiction writing, which are quite different.
Eats Shoots and Leaves is fun, but I would not recommend it as a guide. It got torn apart in the New Yorker for one thing.
Pieces of Soap by Stanley Elkin gets me wanting to write.
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager and the Doomed by Karen Elizabeth Gordon explains grammar in, shall we say, a less dusty way than usual.
Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student by Edward P. J. Corbett is almost a liberal-arts education by itself.
My writing interests lean more towards the professional. I’m not a great fiction writer. Journalism, public relations, copyediting, etc.
Frankly, I don’t need any help with my grammar, I’m just looking for opinions on good books in the genre. Anything will do, even books about fiction writing if they’re well done and interesting. I’m looking to expand both my horizons and my bookshelf.
** E. Thorp**, I’ve flipped through The Deluxe Transitive Vampire. It’s certainly an interesting book.
Michael O’Donoghue’s short piece “How to Write Good” is surprisingly useful…
There’s a cracking book called “First Aid in English” by Angus MacIver (ISBN 0716955040).
It was first published at the end of 1939 and is really just a basic grammar book for children. It was rammed down my throat at the age of about 8 but by crikey it did me a power of good.
Second on Bird by Bird. Anne Lamott is one of my favorites.
I liked *Lapsing into a Comma*, which I loaned to my boss.
twicks, professional editor
Thanks for all the replies. I’ll definately be checking some of these out as funds become available.
Is it just me, or is there something ironic about asking for books on proper writing with the Doper classic-yet-nitpickingly-wrong phrase “Recommend me”?
I may be getting whooshed here, but am assuming you were going for the giggle…
My advice - if you are seriously wanting to use these guides to write better, just pick one or two books and stick with them. Too many cooks and all…if, on the other hand, you kinda dig this type of book, then go for it.
And I agree with folks not interested in Eats, Shoots and Leaves - I have not read it, but my grammatically-nitpicky, former-English-major-and-teacher mom did and she found it way off grammatically, but amusing in a tedious way - not high praise.
I get to plug my most favorite writing book: John R. Trimble’s Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing.
It’s short, it’s punchy, it’s an easy read, and it is absolutely brilliant.
There is an American edition of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, but all it does is stick in an occasional paragraph about American style that is incomplete, confusing, or wrong. The bad examples she writes about are fun, as always, though.
Not exactly a book on language or style, but Lawrence Block’s Telling Lies for Fun & Profit is the funniest and wisest book on writing that I know. It’s a collection of his former columns for Writer’s Digest.
English writer Colin Wilson is an acknowledged expert in fields as diverse as criminology (particularly Jack the Ripper), philosophy and the occult. His book The Craft of the Novel is largely concerned with what novels are “about” and offers an interesting perspective on the modern novel.
I just kinda dig this type of book. Good advice otherwise, though.
Block has a couple of others as well, available from his Web site. (That URL skips the Flash intro. If you wnt to see it, go to http://www.lawrenceblock.com/ instead.)
This is a rather timely thread for me: after a B.A. in English/Communications, one published nonfiction article, six years as a professional technical writer and editor, and a recent acceptance into an English M.A. program (concentration: Professional Writing & Editing), I have decided that it’s finally time to expand my writing/grammar/style library beyond my much-loved AP style guide. Just last night I ordered The Elements of Style, Lapsing into a Comma (glad to see twickster’s recommendation!), and The Elephants of Style (the latter two by the same author) from Amazon.com. I’m holding off on the Chicago Manual for the moment, because it costs more than those three books combined. Johnny, I hope you don’t mind if I take advantage of the replies you’ve gotten/continue to get… 
Has anyone read Patricia O’Conner’s Woe Is I? I keep coming across it, but the full title puts me off: “The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English.” It is really written for people with no grasp of/love for grammar?
I’ve not read Bird by Bird, but I first heard the story of that phrase many, many moons ago in a PR-writing seminar; since then I’ve printed it out (along with a cute piece of birdie clip art) and taped it to my computer monitor at each job I’ve had. 
Yet you’re “not really interested in reading a British book on style?” :dubious:
Just kidding (honest). I agree with those who say that Eats, Shoots & Leaves is not to be taken too seriously, but I enjoyed it (the American ed.).
Out of my thread, Misnomer! Out! Out!
The only reason I don’t want to read a British style guide is because their stylistic conventions are different at crucial points and I’m still a tender and impressionable undergraduate.
My favorite is John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction.
Elements of Style has already had lots of mentions. There are lots of other decent books, but those two are my essentials.
I completely understand: I was a tender and impressionable junior high student when I lived there, and 19 years later I still spell ‘colour’ and ‘theatre’ wrong. So really, no worries. Like I said, I found Eats, Shoots & Leaves to be entertaining, but not something I’d rely on…well, not anymore. Not after embarrassing myself in this thread. (Apparently, even us tough and jaded grad students can get confused sometimes… :eek: )