ENGLISH GRAMMAR and PUNCTUATION
OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARY
OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
WEBSTER'S NINTH or TENTH EDITION DICTIONARY
THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE Strunk, William, Jr., and E.B. White. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Third Edition, 1979. ISBN: 0-02-418190-0.
THE ELEMENTS OF GRAMMAR Shertzer, Margaret. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1986. ISBN: 0-02-015400-2.
SISSON'S WORD AND EXPRESSION LOCATER Sisson, A.F. Los Angeles: Pinnacle Books, Inc., 1979.
ISBN: 0-523-40073-4.
WEBSTER'S INSTANT WORD GUIDE Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1980. ISBN: 0-87779-273-9.
THE MERRIAM-WEBSTER CONCISE HANDBOOK FOR WRITERS Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1991. ISBN: 0-87779-602-5.
WHICH WORD WHEN? Heacock, Paul. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1989. ISBN: 0-440-20388-0
WORD WATCHER'S HANDBOOK Martin, Phyllis. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. ISBN: 0-312-05541-2.
WOE IS I O'Connor, Patricia T. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1996. ISBN: 0-399-14196-0.
WRITING REFERENCE
THE ROMANCE WRITERS PHRASE BOOK Kent, Jean and Candace Shelton. New York: Putnam Publishing Group, 1984. ISBN: 0-399-51002-8
THE WRITER'S SURVIVAL MANUAL Meyer, Carol. New York: Bantam Books, 1984. ISBN: 0-553-24108-7
THE FICTION WRITER'S RESEARCH HANDBOOK McCormick, Mona. New York: New American Library. 1988. ISBN: 0-452-26157-0
SLANG AND EUPHEMISM Spears, Richard A. New York: New American Library, 1982. ISBN: 0-451-16554-3.
A dictionary of oaths, curses, insults, racial slurs, sexual slang and metaphors, drug talk, homosexual lingo, and related matters. It is invaluable for writers of historical fiction because it lists the date the word or phrase came into use and the country of origin.
THE MASKS OF GOD: OCCIDENTAL MYTHOLOGY Campbell, Joseph. New York: Viking Penguin, Inc., 1964.
ISBN: 0-14-004306-3.
THE OXFORD HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE Morison, Samuel. New York: New American Library, Three Volumes, 1972. ISBN: 0-541-62446-7.
THE HOME AND FARM MANUAL Periam, Jonathan. New York: Greenwich House, Classic 1884 edition, 1984. ISBN: 0-517-445301
Great information on rural Americana.
THE WRITER'S LEGAL COMPANION Bunnin, Brad and Peter Beren. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1988. ISBN: 0-201-14409-3.
THE ULTIMATE NAME THE BABY BOOK Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International, 1989. ISBN: 0-452-26275-5.
A WRITER'S TIME Atchity, Kenneth. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN: 0-393-30538-4.
A guide to the creative process, from vision to revision. Also explores time management techniques.
STARTING FROM SCRATCH Brown, Rita Mae. New York: Bantam Books, ISBN: 0-553-34630-X.
Great reading list.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DESK REFERENCE New York: Webster's New World, 1989.
It has information on just about everything.
SEX IN HISTORY Tannahill, Reay. New York: Stein and Day, 1980. ISBN: 0-8128-6115-9.
THE WRITER'S DIGEST GUIDE TO MANUSCRIPT FORMATS Buchman, Dian Dincin and Seli Groves. Cincinnati: Writers Digest Books, 1987. ISBN: 0-89879-293-2
THE DICTIONARY OF CULTURAL LITERACY,
SECOND EDITION.
THE WRITER'S JOURNEY Vogler, Christopher. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 1992. ISBN: 0-941188-13-2
BIRD BY BIRD Lamott, Anne. New York: Doubleday, 1994 ISBN: 0-385-48001-6
DANGEROUS MEN AND ADVENTUROUS WOMEN
Krentz, Jayne Ann, Editor. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992 ISBN: 0-8122-1411-0
Romance writers on the appeal of romance
THE WRITER'S IDEA BOOK Heffron, Jack. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 2000.
ISBN: 0-965-09505-3
ON WRITING King, Stephen. New York: Scribner, 2000 ISBN: 0-965-032844
A memoir of the craft. Excellent!
ADVICE TO WRITERS Winokur, Jon, Editor. New York: Pantheon Books, 1999. ISBN: 0-679-44387-8
A compendium of quotes, anecdotes, and writerly wisdom for a dazzling array of literary lights.
WALKING ON ALLIGATORS Shaughnessy, Susan. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN: 0-06-250758-3
A book of meditations for writers.
A WRITER'S COMPANION Rubin, Louis D. Jr., ed., New York: HarperPerennial, 1997.
ISBN: 0-06-273472-3
66 intriguing lists and special glossaries for writers, editors, fact checkers, and information lovers of all kinds.
Probably real handy for would-be Jeopardy contestants, as well.
