Punctuation book a winner!

A book about punctuation, an unlikely bestseller in any year, won the top prize at the British Book Awards ceremonies.

“Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” a lighthearted look at the pitfalls of apostrophes and rampant commas, won the book of the year award for author Lynne Truss.

Alexander McCall Smith, author of a series of popular books about the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency,” was named author of the year in ceremonies Wednesday.

The British Book Awards are nominated and judged by a panel of 400 publishers, wholesalers and booksellers, together with a telephone vote from the public. The awards usually reflect popular public taste rather than critics’ views.