Lovely. Thoughtful. Engaging. Delicious.

I really wanted to love this book. I agreed with so many of her insights and conclusions--but it's amazing how a cultural commentary from 2009 can already sound so, so dated. I can't help but wonder how McEntyre would approach writing these topics in 2020, when we're more media-, information-, lie-saturated than ever before. I also wonder how this book might change if McEntyre were not quite as reliant on the Western literary canon (Wendell Berry and T. S. Eliot in particular) and broadened her bibliography to include more insights from non-American, non-European voices. There are still some gems of truth in this book, though, and I'll certainly be returning to some of my highlighted passages in it.

MCME practices the same 'stewardship principles' she proposes, examining both language itself and cultural usage of it with the unflinching precision that stems from love.

I think I’d need to read this book at least three more times to fully let it sink in & change the way I approach language. Lots of good ideas, a little too much “the younger generation is ruining language” for me.

Meditations on words and poems and language...McEntyre gives us 12 strategies to cherish our language, to respect its power, and to pay homage to its grandeur. Published in 2008, it's more timely today than ever...with discourse being coarsened, with lies being brazenly tossed about.

"Caring for language is a moral issue" in our society, and we must stand strong against those who manipulate words and people for their own purposes. She tells us that what passes for public discourse is "ad hominem, argument, accusation, smear campaigns, hyperbole, broken promises, distortions, and lies (of COURSE she uses the Oxford comma!!)."

The strategies for caring for words? Love words, Tell the truth, Don't tolerate lies, Stay in conversation, Share stories, Love the long sentence, Practice poetry, Attend to translation, Play, Pray, and Cherish silence.

What if we all promised, in our private lives and public lives, to use these strategies? What if we expected our policy makers to use these strategies?

McEntyre talks often about her classes, and that made me wish I could just sit in, and listen.