Between You & Me (Norris) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Ms. Norris, who has a dirty laugh that evokes late nights and Scotch, is…like the worldly aunt who pulls you aside at Thanksgiving and whispers that it is all right to occasionally flout the rules.
Sarah Lyall - New York Times


Copy editors are a peculiar species…But those at The New Yorker are something else entirely…A regular reader might be forgiven for wondering, "Are these people nuts?" In Mary Norris's Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, we have our answer: They most certainly are. And their obsessions, typographical and otherwise, make hilarious reading…Despite the extreme grammar, this book charmed my socks off…Norris is a master storyteller and serves up plenty of inside stuff.
Patricia T. O'Conner - New York Times Book Review


Brims with wit, personality—and commas.... Norris' enthusiasm is infectious. She's as passionate about sharp pencils as she is about sharp writing.... Delightful.
Heller McAlpin - NPR Books


[P]ure porn for word nerds.
Allan Fallow - Washington Post


“Destined to become an instant classic…. It’s hard to imagine the reader who would not enjoy spending time with Norris.
Christian Science Monitor


Mary Norris has an enthusiasm for the proper use of language that’s contagious. Her memoir is so engaging, in fact, that it’s easy to forget you’re learning things.
People


[A] delightful discourse on the most common grammar, punctuation, and usage challenges faced by writers of all stripes. Not surprisingly, Norris writes well—with wit, sass, and smarts—and the book is part memoir, part manual.... [A]fter reading this book, [readers will] think more about how and what they write.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Part memoir and part writing guide, Norris's thoughtful and humorous narrative provides an irreverent account of her days as a New Yorker comma queen as well as an insightful look into the history of the English language. —Gricel Dominguez, Florida International Univ. Lib.
Library Journal


[A] funny and entertaining new book about language and life… While Norris may have a job as a “comma queen,” readers of Between You & Me will find that “prose goddess” is perhaps a more apt description of this delightful writer.
BookPage


(Starred review.) Norris delivers a host of unforgettable anecdotes.... In countless laugh-out-loud passages, Norris displays her admirable flexibility in bending rules when necessary. She even makes her serious quest to uncover the reason for the hyphen in the title of the classic novel Moby-Dick downright hilarious. A funny book for any serious reader.
Kirkus Reviews