 | The Elements of Style by William Strunk
Buy new: $11.16 / Used from: $7.99 The indispensable guide to usage, composition and style. A "must have"!
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 | Grammatically Correct: The Writer's Essential Guide to Punctuation, Spelling, Style, Usage and Grammar by Anne Stilman
Buy new: $13.59 / Used from: $5.00 For those who value correct grammar, Anne Stilman has written the definitive guide.
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 | The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well by Paula LaRocque
Buy new: $12.89 / Used from: $10.00 By "America's Foremost Writing Coach," this excellent book deserves to be more well known.
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 | On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (On Writing Well) by William K. Zinsser
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $5.98 A well presented and readable classic on writing non-fiction.
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 | Common Errors in English Usage by Paul Brians
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $9.08 I like this book--which has now morphed into both a website and calendar. It mostly includes pairs of words that are often confused or used incorrectly.
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 | How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $1.24 An insightful and intellectually motivating classic.
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 | How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book) by Mortimer J. Adler
Buy new: $10.88 / Used from: $6.72 A classic by the late American Neo-Thomist philosopher and advocate for "The Great Books of the Western World."
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 | How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $3.25 Sidi Hamza Yusuf recommended this one to an engineer who wanted to learn to appreciate poetry.
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 | How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster
Buy new: $11.16 / Used from: $3.98 I came across this unique work in a bookstore one day. I expected to be disappointed, but found it to be an entertaining read that really delivers what the title claims.
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 | Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit & Wisdom From History's Greatest Wordsmiths by Mardy Grothe
Buy new: $10.46 / Used from: $4.50 Some fun with "History's Greatest (English) Wordsmiths."
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 | Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You : Chiasmus and a World of Quotations That Say What They Mean and Mean What They Say
Buy used from: $3.88 Another very entertaining look at creative wordsmithing. I enjoyed many of the ingenious examples of chiasmus (e.g. "Here's champagne for our real friends, and real pain for our sham friends").
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 | Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
Buy new: $13.37 / Used from: $0.10 Being a runaway bestseller is quite rare for a book on grammar, but once you start reading you'll understand. Although it received some scathing (and rather nitpicking) reviews, it still delivers.
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 | NTC's Dictionary of Literary Terms by Kathleen Morner
Buy new: $11.01 / Used from: $0.01 Very comprehensive. The most practical and up-to-date dictionary of literary and critical terms.
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 | The Rhetoric and the Poetics of Aristotle (Modern Library College Editions) by Aristotle
Buy new: $10.54 / Used from: $4.00 It's probably no exaggeration to say that all Western literary criticism flows from Aristotle. This book covers his views on both drama and persuasive writing.
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 | Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student by Edward P. J. Corbett
Buy new: $55.26 / Used from: $24.00 This useful work goes beyone Aristotle and really covers a subject that we don't hear much about today.
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 | A Rulebook for Arguments by Anthony Weston
Buy new: $6.95 / Used from: $4.48 I think this is one of the best introductions to critical thinking.
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 | Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking, Seventh Edition by M. Neil Browne
Buy used from: $3.00 Another useful and highly praised work on critical thinking.
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 | Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English, Second Edition by Patricia T. O'Conner
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $3.61 This witty approach to grammar is worth reading just to see if you've fallen into any of the many traps and pitfalls that it discusses.
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 | Latin for the Illiterati: Exorcizing the Ghosts of a Dead Language by Jon R. Stone
Buy new: $16.47 / Used from: $2.65 A handy reference for those without much background in Latin.
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 | The Craft of Revision by Donald M. Murray
Buy new: $37.76 / Used from: $13.95 By Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donald M. Murray, this work is aimed at more experienced writers and tackles the art of editing.
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 | A Writer's Coach: An Editor's Guide to Words That Work by Jack R. Hart
Buy used from: $31.25 Although primarily intended for those writing for newspapers and magazines, almost all writers can probably benefit from the advice contained in this book.
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 | The Chicago Manual of Style
Buy new: $35.20 / Used from: $32.74 Everything you need to know in regards to style. There are other style guides, but none better than this--at least for Americans.
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 | Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
Buy new: $16.05 / Used from: $4.23 |
 | How Not to Write: The Essential Misrules of Grammar by William Safire
Buy new: $11.16 / Used from: $6.70 |
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