If you’ve ever roomed with me in college, been married to me, or heck, driven in a car with me, you know what a stickler I am about grammar. I’d say one of my biggest pet peeves is bad grammar and/or typos. I’m not talking about in personal e-mails, notes, blogs, etc., I’m talking about published, printed, finished work done by someone who ought to know better. I absolutely cannot STAND driving by signs with grammar mistakes. There’s a sign close to our house that says “Breakfast Taco’s $1 Dollar” – aaargh! The “apostrophe s” is probably the most common mistake I see, and it makes me absolutely nuts. It also makes Kyle nuts that I point it out everytime I see that. Also, you don’t need the dollar sign AND the word “dollar.” And, you don’t need an “apostrophe s” if you’re talking about an object named with letters – such as CD’s. (Please don’t be afraid to write me, everyday people not in the editing, publishing, or printing business. I’m not talking about you.)

Okay, I digress… What I was going to talk about was how important this is to me in books. I will stop reading a book if it has poor grammar, spelling mistakes, or even poor word choice. It almost infuriates me to think of how many eyes the work passed before it went to press – the writer, the editor, the copyeditor, the publisher, the printer – and the mistake is STILL there.

So on a positive note, that’s also why I enjoy certain writers – their sentence structure, word choice, style. Therefore, I highly endorse Elizabeth Berg, possibly one of my favorite modern writers. I’ve read seven of her books, I own five (I say this because I’m particular about what books I keep), and I hope to read all 12 yet written. You can buy some of her used books on Amazon pretty cheaply. Right now I’m reading “Until the Real Thing Comes Along,” and it’s a gem, as always with her work.

A few nights ago I finished “Brother and Sister” by Joanna Trollope (ancestor of Anthony Trollope). This is what made me think about my grammar issues in the first place, because it’s actually a very well-written book. But the plot is just okay. It’s about an adopted brother and sister who decide to find their birth mothers as adults. That in itself can make an interesting story line, but it kinda rabbit trails and can be a bit confusing with all the perspective changes. Normally I like it when the writer moves from character perspective to character perspective, but this was done a little too much with too many people. Also, sometimes it comes across as though she’s insinuating all adopted people have baggage with where they’ve come from. And finally, by the end of the book, I didn’t even like the main characters.

All this to say… two stars for that book, now I’m glad I’m reading Berg.

posted: 05 October 20
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