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Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries – if any – do you have in your library?

I love writing guides, grammar books, dictionaries, etc. When I studied English in college I borrowed (I must have borrowed because I can’t believe I would have sold it again!) someone’s copy of Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage. I loved it and would just sit and read it.

I previously worked as a proofreader in (1) a scholarly environment (while in college), then (2) in a business environment, and then (3) at a publisher. When times got slow, I’d sit and read (1) Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage and Chicago Manual of Style; (2) The Gregg Reference Manual; and (3) The Chicago Manual of Style and the in-house style guide. I love Chicago style the best, but like I said, I have a soft spot for the Usage Guide: 900+ pages of basic usage debates (and everything is a debate). It’s great. It’s been more than a year since I’ve been in that world. Sigh.

As for how many I own: sadly, I don’t own many. I had some of the reference manuals in college, but I sold them to other students. I always had them in the office at work for obvious reasons, so I didn’t need my own. I own a Merriam-Webster dictionary, but it’s sitting in storage in Chicago while I live in Australia. I debated taking it until my husband pointed out that we have an online subscription to Merriam-Webster (http://www.m-w.com) unabridged. That is definitely worth $29.95 a year. After a year relying on the internet, why would I need the hard copy any more? It’s so much easier to search online, unabridged none-the-less.

I once owned the online subscription to the unabridged Oxford English dictionary, but at nearly $300 a year, that wasn’t worth it. I think my local library in Chicagoland had a subscription, anyway.

I don’t think it’s necessary to own those things any more. Roget’s Thesaurus and Merriam Webster’s is online, and it’s easier and much more time efficient to search online. But, I’m always interested in “how to get started writing” books and some day I hope I can sit down with M-W’s Dictionary to English Usage again. Those were good old days. Sigh.

What’s your thought? Link to your answer if you want!

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