H. W. Fowler, Fowler’s Modern English Usage, second edition, revised by Sir Ernest Gowers (whoever he was) (Oxford University Press, 1965). Originally compiled in 1926, H. W. Fowler’s classic holds up well, not least because he’s a good writer. Learn the difference between “flotsam” and “jetsam,” and the subtle distinctions between “foam,” “froth,” and “scum.” Not for use in an emergency.
Bryan Garner, Garner’s Modern American Usage, third edition (Oxford University Press, 2009). A balanced and energetic usage guide from the American successor to Fowler. Exhaustive and inexhaustible, without being exhausting. If you read cookbooks for pleasure, that’s what this is like: reflections on the ingredients of language.
Simon Heffer, Strictly English: The Correct Way to Write . . . and Why It Matters (Windmill Books, 2011). Almost a parody of a British curmudgeon, Heffer works for the Daily Telegraph and prides himself on his prescriptive ways. Useful as a corrective or if you need to know how to address a baronet.
Jack Lynch, The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of “Proper” English from Shakespeare to South Park (Walker & Company, 2009). Best general introduction to the history of the language. Though Lynch clearly has a deep background, he leaves out the boring stuff.
David Marsh, For Who the Bell Tolls (Guardian Faber Publishing, 2013). This grew from a series of articles, posts, and tweets on Guardian style. Its guiding principle is Muphry’s Law: “If you write anything criticising editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.” I take Marsh’s point about “who” and “whom,” but he should give John Donne his “m” back.
Henry Petroski, The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance (Knopf, 2011; originally published in 1989). An encyclopedic and enthusiastic survey of the humble writing tool, from the ancient Roman penicillum to pencil fanciers of our time.
Ammon Shea, Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation (Penguin, 2014). Tolerant and amusing, Shea teaches us about such terms as “periphrastic” and “ligurition,” defines Internet abbreviations (“brb”) for oldsters, and debunks many a myth while promoting many another (Nabokov liked smiley faces?). Also revives a commentator named Frank Vizetelly. Most optimistic book on our usage habits.
Marjorie E. Skillin and Robert M. Gay, Words into Type, third edition (Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1974). That’s right, 1974. It may be pre-Internet, but it is still an indispensable reference book. A wise man once said, “You don’t have to know everything about grammar, as long as you know where to look it up.” W.I.T. is organized for this. I reach for it when I can’t remember whether to italicize the genus or the species or which preposition goes with a particular verb.
William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, third edition (Macmillan, 1979). In a mere eighty-five pages, Strunk and White offer timeless advice that generations have internalized. My copy has come apart between “Loan” (“A noun. As a verb, prefer lend”) and “Meaningful” (“A bankrupt adjective”). For the insatiable, there is Mark Garvey’s Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style (Simon and Schuster, 2009). It begins in 1918, with Professor Strunk privately publishing the “little book” for his students at Cornell. White rediscovered the book in 1957 and revised it three times. This account includes his correspondence with his editors and his readers as well as encomiums by appreciative writers.
Bill Walsh, the copy chief of the Washington Post, has composed a trilogy: Lapsing into a Comma: A Curmudgeon’s Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print—and How to Avoid Them (Contemporary Books, 2000), The Elephants of Style: A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English (McGraw Hill, 2004), and Yes, I COULD Care Less: How to Be a Language Snob Without Being a Jerk (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2013). Walsh is down-to-earth and confident, an updated, folksier Bernstein.