Lexicographer, author and broadcaster Susie Dent has been part of Countdown on Channel 4 show since 1992. She puvblished her debut novel Guilty By Association in 2024 and is also the author of several non-fiction books on words and language, the latest of which is Words For Life.
Susie is appearing at Good Housekeeping Live with Country Living Christmas Market.
The last book that made me laugh
I’ve been relistening to This Is Going To Hurt on audio. Adam Kay has such a way with words, I often find myself chuckling. Last night’s guffaw came from the story of a medical student who recorded a 60bpm heart rate on every patient. Kay watched the student feel the patient’s pulse, look at his watch and count the number of seconds per minute!
What to read next
The book I most often give to others
A collection by the poet Louis MacNeice is probably the writing I like to pass on most; his Autumn Journal is just perfect. There’s a steely wistfulness to his writing that always hits the mark.
The book that changed the way I think
It has to be the Oxford English Dictionary. David Bowie had it right when he called it ‘a really, really long poem about everything’. It has magic, drama, adventures, surprises, secrets and as many stories as you could ever want.
The book that made me cry
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is exquisitely written. It charts the complexity of grief and loss and the journey out of them. Tartt’s story is wryly funny but also devastating.
The book that got me through a difficult time
Of all the books I return to when I need comfort, it’s the stories of Agatha Christie. They take me back to times in my childhood when I’d seek out a sunny spot and lie on the floor and read.
Harper Collins UK And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Susie Dent is appearing at the Good Housekeeping Live with Country Living Christmas market on Saturday 15 November
