
Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark by Cecelia Watson
I am a stickler for grammatical rules (ask anyone who has written for me) and a lover of the semicolon. Cecelia Watson’s book bolstered my comfort with semicolonic usage; she shattered my belief in grammatical edicts. Her takedown of David Foster Wallace’s defense of Standard White English is by itself worthy of a recommendation. The rest of the book takes us on an erudite and wide-ranging history of the semicolon and grammar. Highly recommended for lovers of the English language.