Between You and Me

Confessions of Comma Queen

By: Mary Norris

Narrated by: Mary Norris

Mary Norris has spent more than three decades in The New Yorker's copy department, maintaining its celebrated high standards. Now she brings her vast experience, good cheer, and finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in a boisterous language audiobook as full of life as it is of practical advice. Between You & Me features Norris' laugh-out-loud descriptions of some of the most common and vexing problems in spelling, punctuation, and usage - comma faults, danglers, "who" versus "whom", "that" versus "which", compound words, gender-neutral language - and her clear explanations of how to handle them. Down-to-earth and always open minded, she draws on examples from Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, Henry James, and the Lord's Prayer as well as from The Honeymooners, The Simpsons, David Foster Wallace, and Gillian Flynn. She takes us to see a copy of Noah Webster's groundbreaking Blue-Back Speller, on a quest to find out who put the hyphen in Moby-Dick, on a pilgrimage to the world's only pencil-sharpener museum, and inside the hallowed halls of The New Yorker and her work with such celebrated writers as Pauline Kael, Philip Roth, and George Saunders.

Listeners - and writers - will find in Norris neither a scold nor a softie but a wise and witty new friend in love with language and alive to the glories of its use in America, even in the age of autocorrect and spell-check. As Norris writes, "The dictionary is a wonderful thing, but you can't let it push you around."

©2015 Mary Norris (P)2015 Recorded Books

Laugh-out-loud funny and informative.

I learned things I never knew. I now understand things I had memorized but never really could explain. I gained much appreciation for and greater willingness to be curious about grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, meaning, and usage. I need to buy the paper version for reference. Her voice and delivery were exceptional. I laughed out loud more times than I can recall and that doesn't happen often and rarely, if ever, for a book on grammar.

So Witty!

Any additional comments?

VERY funny! There is much to be learned from this book... and who knew learning intricate details about the English language could be SO engaging!

Excellent narration from a grammarian

It's odd to say, but the best parts of this book on writing were the personal stories and the narration. Maybe I am just partial to Ms. Norris's Cleveland accent, being from that area myself. But I found her friendly tone and mildly ironic style very enjoyable. Why three stars for the story then? I just had a very hard time following the book when it got into points of punctuation.

Writing from a different perspective

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book. It discusses writing from the perspective of an editor. I like the way she weaves in personal stories -- and they do not feel like they are filler or irrelevant. Also, she discusses actual editorial decisions she made, some of which she later regretted. Her discussion of the angst (small) things like the placement of a comma or a hyphen is both informative and funny. And I will have to say, I will never look at a comma the same way again! I actually thought this was a good book for the author to read. Her voice is not a traditional smooth narrator, but it allows her to put emphasis on points that I think I would have missed just reading the words. Also, to me her voice had the tenor of a newsroom. In short, I liked this book and it makes me long for a really good editor!

Remove Foul Language Chapter & Would be 5 Stars

I enjoyed this book, it was funny and educational.
I really, really disliked the chapter on foul language. This woman is very intelligent, she doesn't need to try to say every vulgar word there is to make her point. That chapter was cringe-worthy.

The humor is quick and subtle but I dug it. This book might not be for everyone, but I like spelling and language. I particularly liked the part about hyphens and dashes and when it's correct to use them. Learning the history of the different elements was neat too.
All in all, I learned and laughed and was entertained.

I love words, and stories, and this book.

Grammar and punctuation were, and still are, weak points for me. I hated English classes until we came to the section studying Greek Mythology, and then resumed my hatred for English classes. I am not sure that my grammar or punctuation improved after listening to this audio book, but it was interesting to learn the root meaning of words, to hear about the behind-the-scenes operation of the editorial department of a newspaper, and learn about the historical and fairly current people who influenced word usage.

The narration was perfect. Of course.

I smiled through the whole thing

What did you love best about Between You and Me?

She is absolutely engaging. She understands the issues completely, and writes well about them without making anything into life or death. Almost tongue in cheek. I can't imagine that many people would find this all that fascinating. But I did. I'm nervous about my punctuation.

Quirky but fun

This is a quirky book with an unusual subject. I gave it a four because it was a fun read (or listen) for a grammar and spelling nerd like me. I'm not sure the general public would like it, but my fellow grammar and spelling nerds would appreciate it. I also enjoy hearing the author herself read the book.

I am a writer.

As a writer, I enjoyed all of the grammar geekiness. I also enjoyed her office supply geekiness. Decent story, real good grammar information. I found it useful to put the narration on 1.25 speed as she is rather slow.

Between you and me, this is an entertaining book

Oh, dear, oh, dear, I thought as I began Mary Norris’s “Between You and Me.” Her reading was too slow, too deliberate, and there was too much pause between some sentences and paragraphs. But now I know it would’ve been too bad to have missed this charming usage guide and memoir hybrid.
If reading and writing are like oxygen in your life, this audio book is well worth tolerating the different drummer rhythm of the reading. As I continued, either Norris improved as a reader, or I improved as a listener. By the final third, I swear I could hear the twinkle in her eye. I’ve read many memoirs by comedians that weren’t nearly as funny as this.

(Does anyone else deeply resent, as I do, being compelled to fill in the star ratings in order to do a review? It feels like the insipid Facebook thumbs-up and it's annoying when you're willing to take the time to articulate a real opinion.)