Adam Kay – Cannonball Read 17

A love letter to the NHS

This is going to hurt by Adam Kay

November 7, 2025 by Zirza Leave a Comment

The NHS being a demanding mistress, that is. Adam Kay is a screenwriter for various UK TV shows, but before he switched careers he was a doctor specialising in gynaecology and obstetrics. During his studies, he was advised to keep a diary. Years after switching careers, he received a letter from the Medical Board of Whatever stating that they’d struck him from the professional register as he hadn’t practised medicine in years. It led him to revisit his diaries, now presented here in book form. […]

I should have probably read this at Christmas

Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay

March 9, 2020 by TheShitWizard Leave a Comment

The obligatory Christmas tie-in to Kay’s This Is Going To Hurt, Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas covers the many Christmases that Kay worked for the NHS, with all the humour and heartache that one would expect. It’s an extremely quick read too – you could finish it in the time it took you to eat a Christmas dinner – which would fit perfectly into a stocking (remember this for, erm, nine months time I guess). Being an obstetrics/maternity specialist, babies who refuse to wait till […]

Checks All the Boxes and Does It Well

July 21, 2018 by ASKReviews 1 Comment

Best for: Anyone who likes fairly humorous personal memoirs, especially of the healthcare variety. Probably not best for those currently pregnant, unless they want to read a bunch of vignettes about the various things that might go wrong during labor and delivery (though to be fair, only one such vignette ends poorly, and that’s near the end of the book). In a nutshell: Former junior doctor Adam Kay unearthed his diaries from the few years he was a doctor working in the NHS. Worth quoting: […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
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Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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