|
A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation
|
| List Price: | $13.95 |
| Price: | $11.16 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com
37 new or used available from $7.88
Average customer review:
After reading this, I wish I would have included it in the current MFA program. It adds punctuation to the list of potential layers in a story. It will be required reading in future MFA programs, and optional for our current session.
Product Description
"Takes the straitjacket off punctuation....Lukeman's wit and insight make this an instant classic."—M. J. Rose
The first practical and accessible guide to the art of punctuation for creative writers. Punctuation reveals the writer: haphazard commas, for example, reveal haphazard thinking; clear, lucid breaks reveal clear, lucid thinking. Punctuation can be used to teach the writer how to think and how to write. This short, practical book shows authors the benefits that can be reaped from mastering punctuation: the art of style, sentence length, meaning, and economy of words. There are full-length chapters devoted to the period, the comma, the semicolon, the colon, quotation marks, the dash and parentheses, the paragraph and section break, and a cumulative chapter on integrating them all into "The Symphony of Punctuation." Filled with exercises and examples from literary masters (Why did Poe and Melville rely on the semicolon? Why did Hemingway embrace the period?), A Dash of Style is interactive, highly engaging, and a necessity for creative writers as well as for anyone looking to make punctuation their friend instead of their mysterious foe.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #28488 in Books
- Published on: 2007-04-16
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 208 pages
Editorial Reviews
Paul Cody, Ithaca College
Pithy, elegant.
Brian Ascalon Roley, Miami University
A page turner.
John Burt, Brandeis University
A master class.
Customer Reviews
Superb
I purchased this book because I wanted to learn how to properly use commas, colons and semicolons. But, I learned more than just proper usage from this book. Lukeman, as the title indicates, discusses how punctuation can be employed to create style and effect in one's writing. He also warns of the pitfalls that one can fall into when using punctuation. All through out this book he illustrates his points with excerpts from other literary works. As a plus, this book was neither boring nor difficult to read. On the contrary, I found it quite interesting and easy to get through. While not as entertaining as Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss, I did find the material more substantive and valuable.
A great user-friendly punctuation book
As an incoming freshman entering college, I wanted to find some way to improve my writing. The aspects of my writing were fine, but sometimes it felt short of fully emphasizing an idea, or just connecting sentences better. So I picked up this book (I'll admit, the only thing that caught my attention was the cover at first) and I learned more about punctuation from this book than I ever did from elementary school!
The good and bad examples of good punctuation usuage ultimately helped me understand how to correctly use puncation to improve writing. Also, the author explained the differences and similarities between the punctuation marks quite well. The examples were interesting; the danger of overuse and underuse of various punctuation kept me glued to the book; overall, a must read!
a dash of style
Noah Lukeman's books on writing, I believe there are three total, are the last word for any aspiring writer anywhere--I can't recommend him enough! :)
