Seasons greetings! And we can't think of anything more festive or merry-making than this glorious conversation with lexicographer, author and podcaster Susie Dent! As well as writing many books on words and language, with the latest being the brilliant An Emotional Dictionary, Susie resides in Dictionary Corner on Countdown and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and hosts the podcast Something Rhymes With Purple with Gyles Brandreth. We talked to her about tricky words in Dickens, the perils of reading your own audio books, the wonder of swearing and her favourite book to give as a gift. Find out more about the books mentioned on the episode by visiting our bookshop.org shop. Sign up for the You're Booked newsletter by heading to: FurtherReading.Substack.com BOOKS Dale Shaw - Painfully British Haikus Susie Dent - An Emotional Dictionary Charles Dickens - Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens - Bleak House Twice Upon a Time: Susie Dent Noel Streatfeild - Thursday's Child Noel Streatfeild - Ballet Shoes Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Secret Garden Francis Grose - The Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue Samuel Johnson - Johnson's Dictionary Michele Obama - Becoming Elizabeth Jane Howard - Mr Wrong Daisy Buchanan - Careering DH Lawrence - Sons and Lovers DH Lawrence - Short Stories DH Lawrence - Lady Chatterley's Lover Jilly Cooper - Harriet Stephen Sondheim - Finishing the Hat Louis Macneice - Autumn Journal Christina Rossetti - Artists Studio Mary Oliver - Collected Poems Lucy Ellmann - Ducks, Newburyport Gyles Brandreth - Dancing By the Light of the Moon Sam West - Pandemic Poems Zadie Smith - Feel Free Anne Lamott - Almost Everything Gyles Brandreth - Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait Alain-Fournier - La Grand Meaulnes Julian Barnes - Le Grand Meaulnes Revisited Julian Barnes - Flaubert's Parrot Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.