Wretched Writing: A Compendium of Crimes Against the English Language (2013)

Author: Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras
Publisher: Penguin Group

Synopsis:
A glossary of terrible writing practices illustrated with some of the worst examples ever penned.

Impressions:
For anyone with an interest in the craft of writing, this is a fairly amusing book. The authors managed to find some doozies, but it's not all gold. Some of their examples I disagree with (though they themselves admit that your mileage may vary) and a couple points are downright asinine. (Particularly, labeling an older sample of writing wretched due to lexical shift is dumb.) Mindful of the old adage about glass houses and throwing stones, the authors do provide a few samples of their own work to fully illustrate that no writer is immune. All told, it's a worthwhile read in spite of a few minor quibbles. Give it a shot.

Rating:
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