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These brief reviews are intended, not only to highlight new books but also to recommend ones that have been around a while that our customers may have missed. Several years ago this book had the whole staff laughing out loud.

Although punctuation could be considered a somewhat mundane or academic topic, Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss goes way beyond being a rulebook. Truss, an admitted stickler for accurate punctuation, looks at the decline of its proper use throughout our culture, remarking that, from the grocer to instant messenger, it appears the accepted rules for punctuation are either not learned or ignored by the general public. Truss takes a stand for written communication and the necessity of good punctuation, while demonstrating that the beauty and nuance of the English language are lost without those little marks that lead the reader to understand what the writer has intended. And in case you don’t get the humor, next time you’re in a restaurant beware of the panda that eats, shoots and leaves.