Reference Books you can Love

It's easy to fall in love with fiction.  If the writer's done his/her job, a reader can sit back with a well-formed story, a balanced plot and distinctive characters with unforgettable lines.   Everything should work out in fiction.   Non-fiction's not quite so easy.  Perhaps the hero didn't have a memorable speech or the author missed meeting that all-important member of the cast.  That author can either tell the truth or stretch it, both of which create their own downsides but, if a talented writer finds an interesting subject and is willing to do the research, some non-fiction books are terrific.   But reference books are the Rodney Dangerfields in a printed world: they rarely get any respect, so nobody wants to write them.  Without plot or characters, the tomes seldom get attention.  I know of three exceptions to the rule.  You can read them for reference or for pleasure but either way, you'll never be bored.

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. 

 This book is history, itself.  An English publisher named Beeton talked his wife into assembling this household bible in the 1850's and for decades it reigned in the homes of British middle and upper class citizens while Victoria reigned on the throne.  Ninety percent of the book is recipes (Wikipedia tells me the Downton Abbey team uses it for source material) but the remaining material is the treasure; this section gives the lady of the house the knowledge she needs for her life.   Which domestic should be hired first, what they should be paid and what are each of their duties?  Beeton tells this and then outlines how each job should be performed so a young wife could check behind the maid.  There's a section on childhood diseases and compounding simple medicines.  Medical and legal concepts are explained here as well as etiquette, economy, how to set up an efficient kitchen and profitably spend a day.   This book is an insight into British life itself during the years of Victoria and it's fascinating to read.  I don't cook and I'm hopeless at entertaining but I'll keep my copy of Beeton's.   With her, I think I could out-do Martha Stewart.

An Incomplete Education

Can you tell what a life my copy's led?   I got it in the early 1990's, when I was self-conscious about my unfinished college degree.  I thought the dear book could help me appear less unlettered in conversation with graduates.  Since then I've read untold numbers of books, picked up my sheepskin and talked with enough intellectual drop-outs and ignorant alumni to sink a small island but I keep going back to this book because An Incomplete Education's not just informative, it's fun.

Every section is well-laced with humor (well, every section I go back to - I usually skip the science) and has titles like, "American Intellectual History and Stop That Snickering."  If you've gone through the novels of Jane Austen and are lost in the shrubbery, this book explains the difference between the style, the weir and the haha.  (Yes, that's right, a haha.)  And it's full of bits that stick in the memory like differentiating between Shelley and Keats. (Between the two, Keats was more stable, emotionally.  He's the one you could play handball with.)   Does it substitute for a college education?  Of course not.  Is it more fun to read than your senior project?   Gee, what do you think?

The Elements of Style

This may be the most neglected book on the planet.  Every writer, every educator and many administrators I know swear by the book and beg others to follow it.  I understand that newly-minted Alabama attorneys receive copies from the appellate court with instructions to follow its dicta when writing.  Entire websites are devoted to it.   But does anyone read it?  I don't think so, except me and a word-struck cousin.  Many of the paperbacks I find look unopened and covered with dust. That's a shame.  Between these unassuming covers lie the keys to the kingdom.

Some background: Professor Strunk came up with some basic composition rules for his students at Cornell and he distributed these in small, brown, bound books .  Many of the students kept their books including one E. B. White, who later wrote Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.  Like many of his classmates, he remembered the book with affection.  When it was finally published, he added the section, "An Approach to Style."

Professor Strunk's rules are a guide to producing clean, serviceable prose, the meat-and-potatoes of literature.  These cover anything from where to put the apostrophe (Charles's books!) to making the meaning clear ("Omit Needless Words!).  This part can seem pedantic and some critics insist the authors violate their own instructions on occasion but this guide is still referred to because it works.  Following these rules helps you create reasonable, unpretentious prose.

Now my secret: I read E. B. White's section on style for pleasure.  As a writer, Mr. White used simple, clear language to express ideas and impressions.   His narratives develop so seamlessly that each paragraph seems like the inevitable result of the last.  He makes writing look easy.  In "An Approach to Style" White talks about how a writer is revealed by his or her choices and how using a simple narrative style keeps the story flowing.  His suggestions don't have the stentorian mandate of "Omit needless words" but they are persuasive, partly because they're expressed so well.  Since all writing is an attempt at communication, Mr. White's suggestions clear out any language that obscures the message.  This essay is a remarkable work.

Of course, these are not run of the mill reference books.  Many reference tomes are as dense and dull as you'd expect so I'm campaigning for these.   In a field where dull books fill shelves like lumps of lead, Beeton's, Incomplete and The Elements are pure gold.