The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine

The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine
Published September 2019
Source: checked out from my local library

Publisher’s Summary:
The Grammarians are Laurel and Daphne Wolfe, identical, inseparable redheaded twins who share an obsession with words. They speak a secret “twin” tongue of their own as toddlers; as adults making their way in 1980s Manhattan, their verbal infatuation continues, but this love, which has always bound them together, begins instead to push them apart. Daphne, copy editor and grammar columnist, devotes herself to preserving the dignity and elegance of Standard English. Laurel, who gives up teaching kindergarten to write poetry, is drawn, instead, to the polymorphous, chameleon nature of the written and spoken word. Their fraying twinship finally shreds completely when the sisters go to war, absurdly but passionately, over custody of their most prized family heirloom: Merriam Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition.

My Thoughts:
When I was in grade school, there were three sets of twins in my grade, one was a set of identical boys, two sets were fraternal twins. I never gave the idea of twins much thought. Because there is a lot of twinning going on in my book club, it comes up a lot in our meetings and it's gotten me thinking about what it's like to be a twin. Just how does growing up your whole life with someone who looks exactly like you feel? And how deeply does the indentical-ness go?

But, let's be honest, the real reason I picked up this book (besides the fact that it was by Schine), was because it was about language. I do so love to geek out on words and language and I really wanted to see how Schine was going to be able to write a novel about language that might interest a wider audience. A word of warning for those who aren't language geeks – there really is a lot of discussion of language in this book and it does play a fairly significant role in the story so you can’t just rush by it. But the book's appeal is not limited.

In The Grammarians, Laurel and Daphne are so alike that it’s not just difficult to tell them apart physically, they also have the same passion for language that molds their identities and initially unites them against all others. They develop their own language, they make lists of their favorite obscure words, they both find themselves in careers that are based on language. But as much as the twins dote on each other and cherish the fact that they have someone who will always know them better than anyone else, they are also keenly aware of their differences. Their lives become a struggle between the need to create their own identities and that bond that will never break. When the twins switch jobs for a day, both believe that they have been a better version of the other one. When Laurel gets a nose job, Daphne takes it as a personal slight. When their mother complains to each of them about the other twin, the girls are quick to defend each other. And yet they will grow to have very little to do with each other and it takes a toll on the rest of the family.

While this is not my favorite Schine book (that honor goes to The Three Weissmanns of Westport), I very much enjoyed it. Schine always writes compelling family stories with humor, intelligence, and a great fondness for her characters.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss

Eats, Shoots and Leave: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
Published 2004 by Avery
Source: bought this one through Better World Books

Publisher's Summary:
We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.


My Thoughts:
Huzzah! I finally finished this book after it languished on my nightstand for months and months. And why is that? I have no idea. I mean, I don't know that it's a book you would want to try to push straight through. It is, after all, a book about grammar and punctuation. On the other hand, it certainly deserved to be read faster than a couple of pages every few days and I absolutely would have remembered more of what I learned if I hadn't stretched it out so long.

Here's what I did learn:

• There are more punctuation rules than I was even aware of there being.
• Punctuation has been evolving since people began writing words.
• There is a difference between how Brits punctuate and how Americans punctuate and it's not always the Brits who are the bigger sticklers. 
• Authors have very vocal opinions about punctuation in their books. So do editors. These opinions can often lead to conflict. 
• Punctuation can be humorous. 

As to that last point,  this book is filled with humor. Which, I suppose, you might gather from the title and the cover; but which, nevertheless, was a pleasant surprise. Truss gets that she's a stickler when it comes to punctuation, even calling herself and those like her "punctuation vigilantes." In talking about the name of a British pop music group named Hear'Say, Truss says:

"And so it came to pass that Hear'Say's poor, oddly placed little apostrophe was replicated everywhere and no one gave a moment's thought to its sufferings. No one saw the pity of its position, hanging there in eternal meaninglessness, silently signaling to those with eye to see, "I'm a legitimate punctuation mark, get me out of here."

More on apostrophes:

"Now, there are no laws against imprisoning apostrophes and making them look daft. Cruelty to punctuation is quite unlegislated: you can get away with pulling the legs off semicolons; shrivelling question marks on the garden path under a powerful magnifying glass; you name it."

This one's a keeper. It will go on the shelf with my other reference books and may even (gasp!) be highlighted. And when I pull it off the shelf to check on a rule of punctuation, I may even reread passages just for amusement. I'll bet you never thought you'd hear anyone say that!