Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer

I was so relieved when Benjamin Dreyer confessed. "When I started out as a copy editor, I realized that most of what I knew about grammar I knew instinctively.”  I was not alone!

He won my heart by adding, "Even now I'd be hard-pressed to tell you what a nominative absolute is, I think that the word "genitive" sounds vaguely smutty, and I certainly don't know, or care to know, how to diagram a sentence. I hope I'm not shocking you."

We did diagram sentences in junior high....in 1965... Don't ask me how to do that now.

In school, I often got an A for content and a C for grammar and spelling. I never did learn to touch type with accuracy, and any proficiency I had gained in spelling has disappeared.

I often said that I came out of Temple University knowing how to read intelligently. I was quite unemployable and ended up in customer service and sales.

When I got a job as a copywriter/copyeditor in promotion for a small publishing house (I had worked for a former employee and my new boss thought I had learned her skills through osmosis), I worked hard to correct my errors by reading grammar books. My coworker and I had many heated discussions about how to write; she was a grammar nerd.

Later in life, while schooling our son, my family all were writing and  we would critique each other. I had become a member of the dreaded 'grammar police' and oversensitive to bad writing habits.

I took short-term editing jobs and people hated me. I edited a manuscript for a self-published author who appreciated my insight and gave me double our agreed on price.

Well, that was a long time ago. I had thrown out my ragged grammar books before a move. Now, I needed a refresher course. And hearing so many good things about Dreyer's English, bought an ebook.

What a treasure! So much useful information, shared in such an entertaining way! A joy to read!

I now understand why I never know if I should use gray or grey. My history of reading British writers had me totally confused.

I am very grateful.

Learn more at
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/232363/dreyers-english-by-benjamin-dreyer/

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Medical Resident by Adam Kay

Warning: this book is going to hurt.

Your body will hurt from laughter. Your laughter will irritate those around you and you will be relegated to a separate room, causing hurt feelings. Or--they will be jealous of the fun you are having and that will hurt their feelings.

Your head will hurt considering all the things that can go wrong in delivering a baby.

And your heart will hurt learning the sacrifices and ordeals required to become a doctor.

In This Is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay, NHS ob/gyn doctor shares stories from the surgical rooms and hospital beds that are unbelievable. I can't even share some of the stories here. Let's just say that people can do some pretty strange things and eating a hospital spoon is one of the less strange ones in this book. His stories in the delivery room can be pretty funny and pretty gruesome.

Kay can be politically incorrect and some of his stories are scandalous.

And yet I 'got' so much of his experience.

There are the high costs of becoming a doctor: expensive schooling, the long hours, being on call, the lack of time for a personal life and family, the meager salary and unpaid overtime, the emotional drain that makes you create a hard shell, the stress, the burn-out. Many professionals can relate to these issues.

It is the heavy burden of being held accountable for life and death decisions that is unique to medical careers. Human error--a slip of the hand or a misdiagnosis in the medical record, the things you can't control--and the doctor goes home feeling they weren't good enough, alert enough, smart enough, lucky enough. 

Kay's experience in the British National Health Service could be a warning to Americans considering national health care options. To keep costs down, the NHS caps salaries. Low pay and long hours contribute to staffing problems.

Kay mentions he has to pay for parking. So do patients. Some doctors leave England to work in for-profit systems.

But the UK medical system rating is quite a bit above the US. It's doing something right.

Kay's writing reminded me of David Sedaris. I laughed, I was embarrassed by what I was laughing at, and Kay engaged my mind and my heart.

I received access to a free ebook through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Medical Resident
by Adam Kay
Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date 03 Dec 2019
ISBN 9780316426725
PRICE $28.00 (USD)

What Have the Americans Ever Done for the World?

Hello, Americans! We have been having a bit of an image problem of late and truthfully we aren't looking quite as good as we used to, especially in comparison to some other countries which I shall not name.

Leave it to a Brit to remind us of our amazing legacy in Atom Bomb to Santa Claus! Basically a book of trivia on American inventions and inventors and artists in all categories of life, readers will be amazed at just what America can be thanked (or blamed) for.

Like air conditioning, first installed in 1924 at Detroit's J. L. Hudson Department store.

Author Trevor Homer briefly traces the history of shaving, including the Perrett "safety" razor that had a blade set in a wooden guard. But it took Americans King Camp Gillette, William Painter and William Nickerson to create the safety razor with disposable blades (thereby creating an eternal after-market).

Today across the world people of every class wear jeans, with zippers, both American born.

Bubblegum! Sliced bread! Coco-Cola! Liquid Paper! Kentucky Fried Chicken! Post-it Notes!Bubble Wrap! Where would we be without bubble wrap to pop? The hamburger and the hot dog and pizza as we know it--all American cuisine--as is the chocolate chip cookie and potato chips.

Okay, let's get serious now. The computer mouse, the Internet, email, Facebook, GPS, search engines, and video games--all American inventions. And credit cards and ATMs. Then there is rocket science and Frisbees that look like flying saucers. Don't forget Robber Barons and the megastores Amazon and Wal-Mart. Even criminals and hate groups and judicial punishments get their due! (Not as inspiring a chapter. Nor is the Weapons of War, from the revolver to the Atom Bomb.)

Howard covers music, too. Jazz and Rock and Roll and Punk and all the dance crazes and the machines we played records on, the Gramophone and the Jukebox (patented in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1905). And writers and architects and sports heroes and fashion designers.

I love the chapter on Unlikely Inventors. Where else would I learn that George Washington created the wine coaster to protect his linen tablecloths? Or that the swivel chair I sit on while typing this was an invention by Thomas Jefferson? Actor Steve McQueen invented the bucket seat for his racing cars and Zeppo Marx of the Marx Brothers invented the clamp which held the atomic bomb safe within the Enola Gay.

Then there are the movers and shakers of the world of invention, the Masters of Change, visionary inventors, moral leaders, and Thomas Nast, artist of political cartoons whose portrayal of Santa Claus set the standard which was later embellished by Coca-Cola's iconic Santa Claus ads.

Medical advancements and inventions include the polio vaccine (thanks to Henrietta Lack's immortal cells) and heart surgery to Botox and Viagra.

Howard ends his collection with a reminder of the basic Freedoms that are enjoyed in America, noting that while we may be far from a Utopia, we are still an example of what can be achieved in a free country.

Thank you, Mr. Howard, for reminding us.

I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Atom Bomb to Santa Claus: What Have the Americans Ever Done for Us?
by Trevor Homer
Thistle Publishing
Pub Date 29 Nov 2018
ISBN: 9781786080820
PRICE: £9.99 (GBP)

Lessons From Lucy by Dave Barry: Finding Happiness in One's Golden Years

What could be better than combing Dave Barry's humor and the love of a dog? Lessons from Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog was a perfect read to refresh my mental health and adjust my attitude. I laughed out loud and I felt warm and squishy inside. 

Barry admits he's always been a 'dog person,' as have I. My childhood mutt Pepper and I loved each other. She followed me to school, sometimes even got into the school to show up at my classroom door. I would lay on the floor to color and Pepper would place her chin on the small of my back. I loved to stroke her long, soft, floppy ears.  For Barry, his childhood dog surpassed Lassie in heroism, for Mistral would eat the Brussels Sprouts Barry slipped to him during dinner!

Barry shares his dog stories and stories from his family life to illustrate the lessons Lucy has taught him about how to live.

I cracked up over so many things. He takes on Facebook and electronic devices, the horror of shellfish as "Phlegms of the Sea," white lies, hurricane preparation, teenage angst over appearance, and the difference between dogs and cats. Dogs feel guilt, even if they haven't done anything wrong; cats "have the morals of Hannibal Lecter."

The seven lessons are not profound or unexpected, but essential and wise. Barry even scores himself on how he has been progressing in trying to put the lessons into practice!

It's worth a try. I sure envy the happiness of old dogs. Our Shibas in their golden years impressed me with the smiles on their faces just enjoying the comfort of a thick foam bed.

I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Lessons From Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog
by Dave Barry
Simon & Schuster
Pub Date 23 Oct 2018 
PRICE $26.00 (USD)
ISBN 9781501161155

Scottoline Does Funny, Too

"We take real life and make it funny."--Lisa Scottoline

Philadelphia lawyer turned courtroom/thriller novelist Lisa Scottoline has also been writing "true stories and confessions." I thought it was about time I read one of her humor books, which she co-authors with her daughter Francesca Serritella. I picked up I See Life Through Rose'-Colored Glasses through NetGalley.

My husband and I began reading Scottoline's novels for their Philadelphia locale. We kept reading for her characters and plotlines. I followed her on social media and discovered her humor writing. I looked forward to that laugh-out-loud moment her posts always brought.

Like the snake in the toilet news story that had her horrified. She writes, "Now, this is where I reveal that I go to the bathroom to pee approximately thirty-five times a day. Seventeen of those are at night." The only thing worse than worrying about finding snakes when you lift the toilet seat lid is, well, there is nothing worse.

Scottoline's 'true stories' are written in her own voice, with a wallop of self-depreciation and a no-holds-barred admittance of the plight of being a woman 'of a certain age' and the indignities of aging. The stories "chronicle our lives" as mother and daughter she writes, looking "at the upside of ups and downs."

Her daughter Francesca writes about being a 21st c thirty-something female in NYC. I loved her "Can You Hear Me Now?" about her mother's struggle with technology--WiFi, phones, Face-Timing. Yep. We have a thirty-something son who we rely on as our personal technology service rep.

"The Ad That Stole Christmas" is about a Match.com ad makes singles feel bad about, well, being single during the holidays. But as her mother knows, the worst thing is not ending up alone, it is ending up with people who make you feel alone.

Scottoline is an animal lover and I enjoy seeing her rescued dogs laying on quilts on the couch. "Animals make us human" she states. "Lint rollers can only do so much," Scottoline admits, and the evidence is apparent on their clothing.

Oh, I do know about that. Our Shiba Inus shed 9 months out of the year, and the other three they exploded fur. We did not have dust bunnies, but dust puppies, and they rolled on the hardwood like tumbleweeds. I once found my dachshund's wiry hairs woven into my brassiere. Francesca writes about deciding to cut her dog's hair herself, which she discovers is not for the faint-hearted or neatnick.

The stories are brief and I like reading them one a day, like a vitamin pill, a daily laugh or chuckle to maintain good health.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses: True Stories and Confessions
by Lisa Scottoline; Francesca Serritella
St. Martin's Press
Pub Date 10 Jul 2018
ISBN 9781250163059
PRICE $24.99 (USD)

Read my reviews of other Scottoline books:

Corrupted:
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2015/10/seeking-redemption-corrupted-by-lisa.html
Damaged:
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2016/08/guilty-until-proven-innocent-damaged-by_11.html
Exposed:
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2017/08/exposed-by-lisa-scottoline.html
After Anna:
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2018/04/after-anna-by-lisa-scottloine.html

David Sederis Does It Again: Calypso

As the Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert was airing on Livestream I opened my ebook and began to read. I was soon laughing out loud. A few paragraphs later I laughed even longer and harder. I had to read out loud to my hubby. And then I knew. I could not read Calypso by David Sedaris while listening to the symphony.

I could not read it in bed. I would laugh my husband awake. When could I read it? During the day, with the windows open to let in the fresh spring air, so inviting after a very, very, long winter? What would the neighbors think?

Sedaris, Sedaris. You are such a problem, I thought.

Then I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride because the next story was about David's youngest sister's suicide. All of the siblings had pulled away from the family to "forge our own identities," he explained; except Tiffany stayed away. And later in the book, he remembers his mother's alcoholism and her early death, his father's eccentricities, living with a defunct stove so his kids could inherit more money.

You laugh, you shudder, you feel slightly ill, and you feel sad. Because Sedaris is ruthless enough to write about life, real life, his life in particular, and we all see our own families and own lives in his stories.

I loved Sedaris's chapter on the terrible tyranny of his Fitbit, and how he was adamant that he got to keep his fatty tumor to feed to a turtle. That crazy moment with his dad drove past a man exposing himself and then u-turned to take another look, his young daughter in the car.

Looking at family photos, Sedaris recalled "that moment in a family's life when everything is golden" and the future held promise. In middle age, looking forward ten years "you're more likely to see a bedpan than a Tony Award."

Ouch. Too close to home, David.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Calypso
by David Sedaris
Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date 29 May 2018
ISBN 9780316392389
PRICE $28.00 (USD)

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

My decision to request Born a Crime has nothing to do with star power or fandom. I have to admit I have never seen Trevor Noah on the Daily Show. I requested this book when I learned it was about Trevor Noah's childhood in Apartheid South Africa.

I started reading my ebook galley as soon as I was approved.

I have to love a guy who finds comedy in tragedy and who gleefully spins yarns about experiences that would keep most of us in therapy for a lifetime. There is a genius in comedy that allows us to encounter devastating truths through the protective lens of laughter.

The heroine of the book is Noah's mother, a feisty lady with a solid rock faith, a gal who snubs her nose at things that don't make sense. She makes mistakes, but always out of love. She takes huge risks but somehow Jesus is always there to catch her mid-fall.

Noah was "naughty as shit" and a challenge to raise, but never hateful or mean. He learned to navigate Apartheid society's complex system that divided people in to three groups: black, white, and colored. How one was categorized was senseless. Japanese were put into the 'white' slot but Chinese into the 'colored'.

"The genius of Apartheid was convincing people who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other. Apart hate, is what is was."

Noah was 'colored' with a 'black' Xhosa African mother and a 'white' Swiss father, his very existence implicating his parent's crime. Had the police discovered them, his parents would be sent to jail and Noah sent to an orphanage. He spent much of his life hidden away, indoors. His parents could not be seen together with him, and his mother had to even pretend he was not her child.

Noah was "colored by complexion but not by culture." He spoke multiple languages, Xhosa and Zulu and Afrikaans, and English, could fit into most groups, but felt affiliated to black culture.

The book is a series of episodic tales, thoughtfully constructed, saving the climax of his family history until the end of the book, after we have come to know and understand them.

"I saw the futility of violence, the cycle that just repeats itself, the damage that's inflicted on people that they in turn inflict on others. I saw, more than anything, that relationships are not sustained by violence, but by love."

The book is funny but is more than a diversive read, it enlarges our understanding of the world. Noah offers an understanding of South African history, colonialism, and Apartheid that is engaging and relevant. He shares the important things he learned and offers them to us. We should listen. We should learn.

Born a Crime
by Trevor Noah
Spiegel & Grau
$28 hard cover
ISBN: 9780399588174

From the publisher's description:

A collection of eighteen personal essays, Born a Crime tells the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. Born a Crime is equally the story of that young man’s fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that ultimately threatens her own life. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Noah illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and an unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a lovable delinquent making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed with only a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

The Nix by Nathan Hill

In Norwegian folklore a Nix is a shapeshifting spirit that lures the unsuspecting to a watery death,. Sometimes appearing as a white horse it will enchant a child onto it's back then plunge into the water, drowning it's rider. Faye tells the story to her son Samuel; the lesson, Faye explains, is that "the things you love the most will some day hurt you the worst."

I was eager to read The Nix by Nathan Hill. Luckily, my local librarian let me know a copy was languishing on the new book shelf for five whole days, which was slaying her, just waiting for me to come in and take it home.

I set aside everything else to spend the weekend reading it. I can't wait to read it again.

Hill has given us a book with great characters, a book with humor and heart, a wise recreation of the world Boomers grew up in, an insightful consideration of the reality of young people today, and with razor sharp exactness, considers the American way of life, politics, inter-family relationships, and ultimately, the nature of truth. Plus for all the terrible things that go wrong in Samuel and Faye's lives, it has a happy ending.

It's about as ambitious a novel as its gets. Perhaps it is the Great American Novel of the decade.

"When Samuel was a child reading a Choose Your Own Adventure novel, he'd keep a bookmark at the spot of a very hard decision, so that if the story turned out poorly, he could go back and try again. More than anything he wants life to behave this way."

Samuel is treading water in a sad job, with a history of failure, seeking escape through online role playing games. Until he gets a call from a lawyer representing the mother who abandoned him 20 years previous. Faye has been arrested as a terrorist after throwing gravel at a politician so awful he makes our current candidates look stellar. Samuel uses the opportunity to discover why Faye abandoned him. The pivitol moment that defined Faye's life was the 1968 Democratic Convention and the student protests that ended in police brutality.

1968. I watched the convention with my Mom, learning (finally, at age 16) how to blow bubbles with bubble gum. It had been a brutal spring, with the death of a boy at school, the photographer for the school paper and yearbook, dead of carbon monoxide poison from sitting in a running car in the family garage. Then there were the murders of Rev. King and Robert Kennedy. I was feeling overwhelmed, disillusioned, angry, and depressed, longing for days of innocence when I still believed in universal goodness (in other words, the year before). Plus, the guy I'd had a crush on for two years still pretended I wasn't there, looking through me as if I were a ghost. The spring and summer of 1968 have gone down in my mind as some of the worst days of my life.

In the novel, Faye grows up with a father who insists on mediocrity and humility. She develops panic attacks and a self-limiting perfectionism. Her boyfriend Henry freaks out when Faye steps out of the proscribed--and very Victorian-- ideal of womanhood. She escapes to a Chicago college, seeking a bigger life than what others have planned for her: contorting herself into the American housewife, the staid lover, a conformist to the lowest common denominator. The house nisse she'd encountered as a girl in her father's basement warned her that misfortune had been heaped on her father's head, and follows down generations. In Chicago, Faye falls into a series of unfortunate events that destroy her hopes and sends her back to the boy waiting for her--and a life she never wanted.

Samuel's quest for the mother brings understanding and empathy, and ultimately inspires him to offer the greatest sacrifice of love: letting his mother go again.

I will be buying a copy of this novel, just so I can underline and note my favorite parts. The character's journeys of self-realization offers pithy insights:

"What Faye won't understand and may never understand is that there is not one true self hidden by many false ones. Rather, there is one true self hidden by many other true ones." 

"What's true? What's false? In case you haven't noticed, the world has pretty much given up on the old Enlightenment idea of piecing together the truth based on observed data. Reality is too complicated and scary for that. Instead, it's way easier to ignore all the data that doesn't fit your preconceptions and believe all the data that does."

"Faye's opinion is that sometimes a crisis is not really a crisis at all--just a new beginning. Because one thing she's learned through all this is, that if a new beginning is really new, it will feel like a crisis. Any real change should make you feel, at first, afraid. If you're not afraid of it, then it's not real change."

Believe the hype. This first novel is a must-read.

The Nix
Nathan Hill
Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN: 978-1-101-94661-9

Read about Nathan Hill's journey to writing of The Nix at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/books/nathan-hill-the-nix.html

1968 Fashion Advice: Purses Are Not To Be Used As A Weapon

Judith Keith's 1968 fashion advice book is filled with great black and white illustrations. The advice may be dated but those of us who remember those days can enjoy a nostalgic trip down memory lane. 

Those who don't remember them can learn a few things about what their predecessors had to deal with. RULES about everything! Including how to carry a purse.

Ladies needed a wardrobe of purses for every occasion:

• Daytime: durable textured leather was preferred in basic colors found in one's wardrobe. Leather is preferred as more lasting than vinyls "and their quality enriches any outfit."
• Evening: all silk or velvet or beading
• Casual: winter wool or summer straw

Handbags with "handles" need to be carried close to the body so you don't "clobber others" with it. "Place arm through handle from the outside in, keeping palm close to the body. The handbag will be balanced and sit close to the hip."

Oh dear. How many innocent victims have you clobbered with your purse? 

Sometimes people purposefully use a purse to clobber. We once had a lady in fur coat clobber our 1973 VW Beetle while we were in it. My husband was trying to parallel park on a Philadelphia street. We were poor and needed the free parking. A Cadillac came up behind us and the driver didn't want to wait. So his wife got out and clobbered our car with a whale of a purse (leather I am sure) and shouted for us to MOVE. It was the only time I was attacked on a Philadelphia street.

Yes, handbags are the weapon of choice of little old ladies everywhere. Here is a story about a Tory Baronness who hit a cyclist with her handbag after he ran a stop light.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-508136/Tory-baroness-84-uses-handbag-whack-cyclist-jumped-red-light.html

Younger women know that handbags can also fend off unwanted admirers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1552096/Youve-got-lovely-eyes.html

The use of the handbag as weapon is so prevalent TV Tropes calls it the "Handbag of Hurt", often "occurring in the Cat Fight and Wimp Fight." They list this usage in television, film and literature,

Keith wisely suggests a daily triage of what is inside your purse. Purge what isn't needed. But, what if we need a brick in case a gunman breaks into the school board meeting and we have to hit them with our purse? Or to save my colleagues? (These stories have appeared in the news.)

Sorry ladies. The rule is to carry that purse close to the hip and don't clobber others.