Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen

Between You & Me is a memoir by Mary Norris, who worked as a copy editor at The New Yorker magazine for over three decades. The book combines elements of grammar guide, career retrospective, and personal narrative as Norris shares her experiences maintaining the magazine's high editorial standards. The text covers fundamental topics in English usage and punctuation through real-world examples from Norris's time at The New Yorker. Her discussions range from comma placement and hyphenation to the ongoing debate between prescriptivists and descriptivists in language evolution. Norris structures her narrative around specific editorial challenges and memorable encounters with writers and colleagues at the magazine. She includes historical context about The New Yorker's style conventions and the personalities who shaped them over the years. The book serves as both a practical reference and a meditation on language's role in communication and culture. Through her dual focus on technical precision and human experience, Norris demonstrates how grammar functions as a tool for clarity rather than a set of arbitrary rules.

Readers appreciate Norris's blend of memoir and grammar guide, with many noting her humor makes technical language concepts accessible. The New Yorker copy editor's personal anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories resonate particularly with fellow writers and editors. Likes: - Clear explanations of grammar rules - Entertaining stories from The New Yorker - Balance of instruction and memoir - Conversational writing style Dislikes: - Too much personal memoir for grammar enthusiasts - Not enough concrete grammar instruction for others - Some find the humor forced - New Yorker-centric perspective As one Amazon reviewer notes: "Expected more grammar, got more autobiography." Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (13,000+ ratings) Amazon: 4.4/5 (850+ ratings) LibraryThing: 3.8/5 (450+ ratings) The book scores higher with general readers seeking entertainment than with those expecting a comprehensive grammar manual.

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🔖 Mary Norris spent over three decades as a copy editor at The New Yorker magazine, earning her the nickname "Comma Queen" 📚 The book explores both grammar rules and their history, including the fascinating origin of the hyphen, which dates back to medieval manuscripts ✒️ Though now celebrated for her editorial expertise, Norris's first job was checking feet at a public swimming pool in Cleveland to ensure they didn't have athlete's foot 📖 The book's title plays on a common grammatical confusion: "between you and me" is correct, while the frequently used "between you and I" is incorrect 🗞️ The New Yorker is famous for its fastidious attention to detail, including its unique style choices like spelling "coöperate" with a diaeresis mark over the second 'o'