

That was just fun!
Dizzying, fascinating, amusing, I think a big part of my enjoyment is the wit and humour of the writer (who also reads the audiobook), somehow casual and the epitome of precision by turns.
You get Stamper's experiences getting the job, learning the ropes, different parts of working on a dictionary as a lexicographer, definer and editor, different components involved in making a dictionary: 1/?
And then all the correspondence sprinkled throughout. Some of it reads like FAQ, responding to popular quibbles, mostly you get the sense that there are a lot of fussy people who need to chill out, and being part of the staff enlisted to respond to queries requires equanimity in the face of everything from questions they cannot possible answer, to people being passionate and particular without much 2w
I highly recommend a tandem reading experience. It means getting to hear the pronunciations, and enjoy the humour in the tone of the person who wrote the book, including the driest and snarkiest passages, 2w
⚠️mentions of homophobia, misogyny, hate speech; while the author does address the existence of racist slurs in the dictionary, I appreciate that she chose not to read aloud the example given in text form 2w