Brilliant--I wish I could be Mary's best friend. This woman is my hero. She has had an amazing life and I felt like I was sitting across from her, drinking coffee and alternatively hearing great stories about the inner workings of The New Yorker and then learning about all the grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other writing conundrums that I've always been scared to admit I don't fully understand. I was laughing and taking notes on usage and style, all within the same page.

Though she built her career on being able to blend in and help other writers become as perfect as possible--pay no attention to the woman behind the No. 1 pencil--Mary has an extremely vivid and distinct voice all her own. Whether you work in some facet of the publishing business, or if you're a writer, or even just a general reader, this is an interesting blend of memoir and writing/reference that has a little something for everyone.

did not finish.

Was interesting til I got to the deeply transphobic chapter...

A good read for grammar nerds and pencil enthusiasts but I wouldn't recommend it for a mainstream audience.

An engaging combination of anecdotes about working at the New Yorker and reflections on grammar, usage, and punctuation. The book as a whole is a bit uneven - some chapters are much more even than others, and certain segments don't hang together as well as they should - but I enjoyed Norris's tone. I appreciate her combination of love for language rules and recognition that there are times when those rules must be broken.

This review appeared here: https://becomingperfectlymyself.wordpress.com/2019/06/24/102-between-you-me/

I found this book looking for another book about English and grammar on Amazon. Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen is the grammatical memoir of a copyrighted from The New Yorker. I learned about Noah Webster, and Benjamin Franklin's weird plans for deleting j's and other important letters.

The making of a dictionary (or a speller as they were once called) is a messy business. Apparently, you make a lot of people unhappy. Especially editors! I was relating this story about Franklin, the vanishing j's, and Webster, and she replied, "Webster should never have been allowed to write a dictionary!" WOW! Excuse me, I didn't know it was such a controversial topic!

Later chapters related the differences between a hyphen, an en dash, and an em dash. I think those are -, --, and ---. Or maybe not. I still don't really understand what they look like or how to use them. All I know is that I, personally, use a lot of dashes, and now I think I'm using them incorrectly.

The last chapter about pencils might be my favorite. It had me laughing out loud! No. 1 verses No. 2 ... the author prefers a No. 1, but they are very hard to find.

Loved this book!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for both prose and interesting information.

Some chapters were hysterical and some chapters droned on. Generally entertaining if you are a grammar and punctuation nerd like I am!

Meh. Coming in at 200 pages, I felt that there was expounding on subjects and stories that really lacked the depth to warrant it. Perhaps to meet a quota? It would have been better to make it short stories and not add what felt like "filler." Some of the stories were entertaining, and it did make grammar more interesting, but I would never recommend the book unless someone had a strong passion for grammar and the written word.

What fun! Mary Norris's excellent memoir/grammar book is funny, clever, informative, and endlessly entertaining. She recounts her early days at the New Yorker, learning the rules of copy editing one pencil mark at a time. She has chapters dedicated to the finer nuances of punctuation, a fascinating chapter on vulgarity and swear words in print, and an homage to her obsession with pencils.

I listened to the audiobook, which has pros and cons. On the pro side, Mary Norris herself is the narrator. She has a distinctive voice, very sharp and clear, and you can sense the humor underlying every sentence she utters. On the con side, some of the punctuation chapters were especially difficult to follow, and I think I would have enjoyed them more if I'd at least had a print copy on hand for reference.

Between You & Me is perfect for word geeks and bibliophiles everywhere. I think I need to grab a hard copy to keep on hand for the next time I need to clarify some commas or hyphens.

The word nerd in me completely loved this charming and well-written book. It was word porn of the best kind.