The Grammarians

The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine, 258 pages

As children, Laurel and Daphne are as close as twins can be — sharing everything from their identical red hair to a room to a secret language. They also share a deep love of words and grammar, something forged by their father at a young age when he brought home the massive Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, second edition. This love of words carried them through college and into the "real world," where they still lived together and got jobs that utilized their grammatical skills. But then, their lives began to diverge as they got married and had families of their own, culminating in a years-long rift caused by the same dictionary that spawned their love of words. This is an interesting tale of sisterhood, of love, of language, of family. There's something that I can't quite relate to in the story, though I think it's because the bond between Laurel and Daphne is something that I simply can't grasp — and, not being a twin myself, I don't know that I'm supposed to. I'd recommend this to fans of the English language and dysfunctional family stories.

Dreyer's English

Dreyer's English: an Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style / Benjamin Dreyer, 291 p.

A witty and well-organized style guide, one so nicely written it's a pleasure to read.  Because Dreyer clearly sought to write something both useful and entertaining, he occasionally risks providing examples that are clever and funny but not always clear, at least to me.  More than once I found myself having to re-read to sort out which line was the mistake and which was meant to be the improved version, and why.  And I'm sure the long section on commas was enlightening but I fear not likely, in my case,  to stick.  Thankfully I have one or two colleagues who can help!