What's In Store
by Joy Dickinson Tipping

Sometimes it's such fun to just let your Inner Grammar Nerd (mine's name is Balthazar) come out, to spend a few hours curled up in a chair reading about hyphens and commas and infinitives (oh my!). For instance, the first time I read Lynne Truss' marvelous Eats, Shoots & Leaves, her British punctuation drove me nuts. It was so relaxing and enjoyable, I found, to read that book with a purple pencil in hand, joyously moving her commas from outside to inside the quotation marks, where they properly belonged in any stateside publication. Mignon Fogarty and Bill Bryson are both American, and thus use good 'ole Strunk-and-White-approved punctuation, but their books are definitely worth the chair time. Both authors possess a wacky sense of humor that makes their books fun as well as informative. Our third featured author, Natalie Goldberg—revered among writers for her classic Writing Down the Bones—brings a sober but similarly lighthearted tone to her utterly engrossing take on memoir, a genre that could certainly use a fresh dash of integrity these days.

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, by Mignon Fogarty. Holt Paperbacks, 2008. 224 pages. Paperback, $14.

Ms. Fogarty stunned the newly buzzy "podcasting" world in 2006 when she started her weekly Grammar Girl podcasts and they eventually rose to No. 2 on iTunes. Suddenly, knowing where the apostrophe goes, or whether to use a colon or semicolon, became hip (and word geeks everywhere wept with glee). As professional writers, we owe her a huge debt of thanks for emphasizing correctness in every form of written communication, including newbies such as e-mails, text messaging, blogging, etc. Ms. Fogarty will have none of that "Well, it's only for a blog, so who cares if it's grammatically correct?" silliness. The playful title of the first chapter—"Dirty Words"—gives a hint at her sense of humor. She doesn't scold; she tries to gently help, although she does note that, despite what certain bloggers or e-mailers might suspect, "writing badly is like dressing in lime shorts and an orange plaid sweater—people notice." She also gets into issues you've probably never thought about, such as the difference (a big one, it turns out) between a "Dear John" letter and a "Hi, John" letter. The book is sparely but delightfully illustrated with the grammatical adventures of Aardvark (species obvious) and Squiggly (a snail.)

Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors, by Bill Bryson. Broadway, 2008. 398 pages. Hardcover. $22.

If Bill Bryson started writing a regular column for Goat Herder's Weekly, I'd happily pay my $28.50 a year, or whatever, for a subscription. I'd even become a card-carrying goat herder if necessary; that's how much I (and virtually every writer and editor I know) love him. So any new Bryson book is cause for exultation. This new one will go on my shelf of essential references, both for its plethora of linguistic tidbits and the wonderful pithy way he explains them. To wit, the razor's edge of difference, for instance, among "elicit," "extract" and "extort." "Elicit," he notes, "the mildest of the three, means to draw or coax out, and can additionally suggest an element of craftiness. … Extract suggests a stronger and more persistent effort, and extort is stronger still and suggest clear threats of violence or harm." So, to elicit payment from a recalcitrant client: "Hey, I'd love to do that assignment for you, but I'll need to get a check on that last one first." To extract: "This is the third time I've called, and I'm considering legal action." To extort: "Hey, you scumbag nonpaying editor, my attorney is headed down to your office. Get your checkbook out; he also works for the Mob!" As always, Bryson also injects bits of sheer "wow!" such as the cunning tidbit that Shakespeare used six different spellings of his own name

Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir, by Natalie Goldberg. Free Press. 310 pages. Hardcover. $25.

If you've ever wondered whether you have the material for a memoir, Goldberg's latest should reassure you. "If you've lived 10 years, you have enough writing material for your whole life," she writes. "If you're 30 years old, stop everything. You already have too much to capture. If you're 60 and your memories are fading, seven images—your mother's face, a cake from Ebinger's bakery, the feel of a football, a street you remember, the smell of a gunshot, the first movie you loved, one time of heartbreaking sex—should fill a book. Just slow down." Old Friend is both philosophical and practical, with Goldberg's fabulous 10-minute exercises designed to get your brain stirring up memories you didn't even know were still there. The 10 minutes can be about time itself—"Tell me about a clock you've looked at a lot. Go. Ten minutes."—or place—"We all come from someplace. Where did you come from? How did you escape? Go for ten."—or just about anything. For freelance newspaper or magazine writers, the exercises also are likely to inspire all kinds of fresh ideas for articles.

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Joy Dickinson Tipping is the author of Haunted City, a guide to New Orleans for Anne Rice fans, and Scarlett Slept Here: A Book Lover's Guide to the South, as well as hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles on everything from adoption to ZIP codes (yes, there is a story in ZIP codes!).