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Summary: Excellent guide to the world of grammar
Review: This book is the wittiest guide to grammar that I've ever read. I wish it had existed when I was teaching a college composition course 25 years ago. Though I consider myself a good writer, I learned a number of things from this book, especially how to sort out tenses in complex sentences. Another useful section is "The Living Dead," where many old grammatical no-no's are laid to rest. I recommend it highly for those who think grammar is as difficult as calculus. It isn't.
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Summary: Don't be fooled - this is a seriously GOOD book!
Review: I've owned WOE IS I for many months now. It never crossed my mind that someone could be misled by the title; in fact, that's what attracted me to it in the first place. I just skimmed over several of the recent reviews at this site and I'm appalled at the prissy comments about the author's "authority". Well, if this country has any standards left with respect to grammar and usage, I'm betting you can find them at the New York Times. That's where Ms. O'Conner learned her trade, and that's a good enough recommendation for me. This book is useful in my line of work - social science research - week in and week out. I HIGHLY recommend it to all types - students, business people, and anyone else who wants to say what they mean.
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Summary: Well, try these instead
Review: In response to Chinamunk's comment below that critics of "Woe Is I" offer nothing instead, let me assist those who cannot use Amazon.com's fine Search functions by recommending the following texts. "Woe Is I" is a problematical reference at best and should be the foremost resource in no one's library. Use with caution and in conjunction with the following texts that are all for sale here at Amazon.com, too:
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0198691262/ Fowler's Usage
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0877791325/ Meriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060976519/ The Language Instinct (full of all the wit that "Woe Is I" features--but with a scholarly, deep understanding of grammar)
Rating: 
Summary: fun to read and contains lots of useful information
Review: I am writing a brief review to warn other readers of reviews: I note that two people who thought this book unlearned based their remarks on the title of the work. This title, however, was used to make the author's point about correctness and hyper correctness on page one! How can you bad mouth a book and not even have read the first page? Buyer beware not only of the product but especially the reviewer of the product.
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Summary: Grammar is fun? Great gift idea!
Review: Delightful book filled with down-to-earth, sensible advice for grammarphobes of all stripes. Since I'm a member of the often-irritating grammar police, I found myself nodding in agreement with the witty way she steers the reader toward the grammatically correct path. I imagine this would be a great gift for those students and professionals who want to improve their language skills but can't quite get it together. As to the detractors: please remove the potato chip of pretention from your nattering nether-region. There's no need to be jealous!
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Summary: response to criticism
Review: It is interesting that people with the strongest critiques usually offer no alternate suggestion to the void that is apparently left by the inadequate item held up to scrutiny.
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Summary: Simplistic, incorrect advice in a pretentious form
Review: This book is full of bad advice that unfortunately will be adopted by an ignorant and unsuspecting public. It is a sloppy piece of work with neither a consistent style (now rules-for-rules'-sake, now anything-goes) nor an apparent purpose other than the author's self-aggrandisement.One wonders from the author's petulant attempts at humour whether her title is intended to be tongue-in-cheek. But there is no indication of that in the text. _Woe is me (thee, him, her, it, us, you, them)_ is correct; *_Woe is I_ is not. This construction is left over from the days when English distinguished the dative from the accusative and authors of grammars knew what case was.
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Summary: One of the best grammar books in a long time...
Review: I have read this book over and over again. I mean, who thought a book about grammar would be funny?! I have to thank Patricia O'Conner for writing this great book. Be sure to check this one out!
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Summary: Semicolon Enigmas and That/Which mysteries--Solved!
Review: The only book on grammar that I have read and continue to use. I've suffered through old high school grammar books and dry technical grammar books for writers and they all made me feel that understanding the rules of grammar was like trying to pave a football field with contact lenses--tedious and futile. The lessons in "Woe is I" are memorable due to the quirky sentence examples and the author's sense of humor.
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Summary: This book is GREAT!
Review: I use this book at least once a week. I work in the business world and I write many memos. I knew my grammer was far from perfect and I was tired of always calling a friend to help me out with the difference between Affect and Effect. I finally decided to rely less on my friend and more on myself and improve my grammer. I bought several books, but this is the book I use the most. Not only do I know when to use Affect vs. Effect, but when to use Which vs. That. How about e.g. vs. i.e.? This, too, is covered in the book. I have two copies of this book - one for home and one for work. This book is a must for all grammarphobes!
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