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Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas

Adam Kay

4.29 · Rating details · 4,311 ratings · 300 reviews

From the author of record-breaking million copy bestseller and 2018 Book of the Year, This is Going to Hurt

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat . . . but 1.4 million NHS staff are heading off to work. In this perfect present for anyone who has ever set foot in a hospital, Adam Kay delves back into his diaries for a hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking peek behind t

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Kindle Edition, 160 pages

Published October 17th 2019 by Picador

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· 4,311 ratings · 300 reviews

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Oct 17, 2019 Jodie (whatjodiereads) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The only complaint I have about this book is that it wasn’t long enough! I love Adam Kay’s writing and I love reading about his time as a doctor. I felt every emotion whilst reading this book - and I loved it! It was hilarious but also heartbreaking at times. It also makes me angry for the way NHS staff are treated, and it really shows what amazing people they are. I really wish that this book was longer as I was really enjoying reading it. It took me only 2 hours! I recommend this one to everyo ...more

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Nov 16, 2019 Petal X Planet rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-100-reviews, humour, reviewed, biography-true-story, 2019-read

It didn't live up to it's initial promise by never developing. It remained a selection of anecdotes taken from the Christmas shift every year from 2004 (afair) to the present. Occasionally it is laugh-out-loud funny or a broad smile, as in: "Full marks to the anaesthetist wearing a badge that says, "He sees you when you are sleeping, he knows when you are awake," but mostly it's just mildly amusing. Or not.

It doesn't compare to the clever, percipient This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Dia ...more

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May 03, 2019 Jessica Rose marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: medical

I am SO glad Adam is writing a new book!

This Is Going to Hurt was truly hilarious and I wasn't ready for the stories to end.

This will be the perfect Christmas read and I just can't wait.

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Oct 21, 2019 my bookworm life rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Like many people i really loved 'This is going to hurt', it was hilarious, gross and had plenty of heart to it, and was certainly eye opening!. So when i saw that he was bringing out a second book, again , like many i was really looking forward to more!.

When this came through the door, firstly i was so let down by how small it was!, it's more of a 'gift book' and something you would just buy for someones stocking or something like that, it is nowhere near the size of the first book, Like many people i really loved 'This is going to hurt', it was hilarious, gross and had plenty of heart to it, and was certainly eye opening!. So when i saw that he was bringing out a second book, again , like many i was really looking forward to more!.

When this came through the door, firstly i was so let down by how small it was!, it's more of a 'gift book' and something you would just buy for someones stocking or something like that, it is nowhere near the size of the first book, i read this in about 90 mins, and all it left me was disapointed that i didn't have more to read. I was really expecting something twice the size, or even if it had been the same size and length as book one that would have been great! but this was just too short i couldn't really feel that into it to be honest.

Also with the general content of the book i felt let down also, with the first book it was full of stories that made me cringe , made me laugh, made me feel sad and every single one really highlighted the stress and demand working at a hospital brought. It was such an interesting read and obviously was very popular with many as it did so very well!. To me, this second book just feels like a quick little money grab, to get those sales and to get back on the charts again, which is such a shame really. Fans of the first book will no doubt buy this one too, and expect more of the same, not just in size but in content, for me it just didn't deliver on either. This book covers his experiences with working Christmas periods, each year has it's own short section divided up into a few different days. The stories included just aren't anywhere as good as the first book, there were a few that made me giggle a little bit, one that is sad but after such a warning for it i didn't feel it was very graphic at all, and a few festive themed mishaps of objects being where they shouldn't etc.

Overall all i felt was i wanted more, this wasn't the satisfying second book i hoped for, and i think for it's price it's not worth it. I would recommend getting it on a Kindle deal when it's 99p to be honest. This is a shame, as his first book is one of my favourites from the year that i've read, and i do really love his writing! but for me this just let me down.

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Sep 29, 2019 Rebecca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: medical, memoirs, 2019-second-half, requested-from-publisher, reviewed-for-blog, laugh-out-loud, novellas

If you’ve read This Is Going to Hurt, the UK’s bestselling nonfiction title of 2018, you’ll know just what to expect from the comedian’s holiday-themed follow-up. It’s raunchy, morbid and laugh-out-loud funny. In the seven years that Kay was a medical doctor, he had to work on Christmas Day six times. He takes us through the holiday seasons of 2004 to 2009, from the sickeningly festive run-up to the letdown of Christmas day and its aftermath. With his Rudolph tie on and his Scrooge spirit intact, he ...more

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Oct 23, 2019 George (BuriedInBooks) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

After reading Adam Kays ‘This Is Going To Hurt’ last year and loving it I was excited to get his latest book which is ‘Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas’ I’m reviewing this today.

This book is a lot shorter than his previous around 140 pages but I’m ok with this as it’s his experiences around Christmas time. As I’ve also worked in healthcare and on Christmas Day before so I was able to relate but unlike Adam, I’ve had to dress up as Santa before!

The book contains many funny story’s but als ...more

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Oct 19, 2019 Liz Franklin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Funny, and poignant and thought provoking and really really respectful of the NHS (and rightfully so) - just too too short! Perfect for a stocking filler for Christmas for anyone who’s read Adam Kay’s first book (This is Going to Hurt), but I can’t help feeling it must have been written in a rush....

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Nov 02, 2019 Sam Still Reading rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Sam Still Reading by: I loved This is Going to Hurt

Like thousands of other readers, I laughed and cried my way through Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt. I wanted more – more laughs, more crazy stories and more OMG moments interspersed with the full range of human emotional experience. Thankfully we now have more in this slim hardcover, which is the perfect size for a stocking or to fit in your pocket to read on the same to work as you steel yourself for working the festive season.

Like the name suggests, this book is full of Adam’s ex Like thousands of other readers, I laughed and cried my way through Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt. I wanted more – more laughs, more crazy stories and more OMG moments interspersed with the full range of human emotional experience. Thankfully we now have more in this slim hardcover, which is the perfect size for a stocking or to fit in your pocket to read on the same to work as you steel yourself for working the festive season.

Like the name suggests, this book is full of Adam’s experiences of working as a doctor in England’s NHS hospitals in the lead up and during the Christmas/New Year period. The poor guy gets more than his fair share of Christmas Day shifts, which are known for their sadness, odd presentations, funny situations, occasional boredom from not being the usual frantically busy and for subsisting on nothing but chocolate for an entire shift. Fortunately for us, lots of work means lots of good stories. Kay never sugar-coats his stories, with some being incredibly sad and others…well, I don’t know how he kept a straight face. (It seems that there is no end of things that people will stick in orifices in search of a good time). It also demonstrates the danger of wearing a singing tie when delivering bad news.

I think Adam Kay balances the funny and sad very well in Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas. I also like that his diaries are a realistic look at life in a hospital, warts and all. It demonstrates the effect of low stock, low money, fewer staff and how the staff try their best no matter what. As Kay says, sometimes all the job gives is a warm glow – not money, not shifts that end on time – but the feeling of helping people. If you have a family member who works in the hospital system (NHS or not), they will love this book and understand exactly what Adam says. To everyone else, it’s a bloody great read for Christmas Day afternoon. (You will just keep the rest of the family awake from your laughter).

As a final mention – please, if you are anaphylactic to a food item, you are anaphylactic across your whole body. Please don’t use the Christmas period to experiment.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
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Oct 20, 2019 Katie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I did love this one it was funny, heartfelt and a brilliant insight into the NHS, it was just far too short. I still standby that his memoirs are the best NHS ones that I’ve read.

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Oct 27, 2019 Eleanor Slater rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Laugh out loud funny and the perfect length for a train journey - although stifling your laughter in public to avoid funny looks may be hard.

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Oct 22, 2019 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A great, quick read. Trademark humour and heartbreak from Adam Kay, patron saint of the NHS. Fuck the tories!

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Oct 23, 2019 Sandie Bishop rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

More funny and heartbreaking anecdotes from the very witty Adam Kay. Loved this festive follow up to This is Going to Hurt. Makes you realise just how stressed our medical profession are while appreciating his ability to relate a bad day on the ward in a way which will either make you laugh or cry - or both in some cases.

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Oct 29, 2019 Yasmin Nouri rated it really liked it · review of another edition

So good and very funny, I just wish it was a bit longer so it felt more like a standalone book rather than the christmassy cut-outs from This is Going to Hurt. Still loved it though!

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Sep 16, 2019 Becky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A great little read, with giggles and tears. Will make a brilliant stocking filler this christmas.

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Aug 20, 2019 Leo marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Of course I have to read this book, especially after the hellish week at the hospital I had during the mid-August holidays.

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Oct 15, 2019 Gemma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-publisher

This Is Going To Hurt was always going to be an incredibly tough act to follow, but I can honestly say that the only negative I have on Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas is that it was over far too soon – I tore through it in a couple of hours!

In this Christmas themed follow up are more brilliant stories told in the same diary format as This Is Going To Hurt – covering the Christmas holiday period from 2004 – 2009 when Kay worked as a junior doctor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, a This Is Going To Hurt was always going to be an incredibly tough act to follow, but I can honestly say that the only negative I have on Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas is that it was over far too soon – I tore through it in a couple of hours!

In this Christmas themed follow up are more brilliant stories told in the same diary format as This Is Going To Hurt – covering the Christmas holiday period from 2004 – 2009 when Kay worked as a junior doctor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and when the majority of us are sat at home drinking bubbly, eating till we’re fit to burst, and spending time with our loved ones.

I could quite honestly just listen and read Kay’s stories all day long. They’re incredibly witty and so easy to read – with any medical jargon or procedures explained in simple terms. But he also knows when to turn it down a notch with the more sensitive moments – which brings me to an extremely detailed entry about a termination that comes with a warning before choosing to read or not due to it’s upsetting and difficult nature. Kay talks about removing this from his first book and I can see why, but at the same time I believe it needs to be there and if you can read it, please do, as it shows the harsh reality of this job.

This little book is quite clearly a thank you to the NHS and all the staff working the front line at Christmas time; looking after other peoples families whilst sacrificing their own family time. As someone who has in the past worked Christmas in the NHS and now in health and social care I am all too aware how people just think the world stops for two whole weeks at Christmas when in reality for so many of us it’s just another routine week (or two!).

Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas is the perfect stocking filler for yourself or someone you love this Christmas. It’s full of hilarious stories, touching stories and the truly shocking stories (*ahem* objects and orifices…!) It’s the perfect book for dipping in and out of over the festive period when you just need that five minute breather from all the family chaos!

Thank you to the publishers for my advanced readers copy.

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Oct 19, 2019 Danni The Girl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-reading

Really looking forward to this book being released... didn't realise it was going go be such a small book... what can I say? Size matters to me.
So this one and is solely focused on diary entries from his Christmas shifts.. that he worked every year whilst in medicine.

I think This is going to hurt was just trying to be funny throughout.. the main criticism from this was Kay being insensitive. I didnt think this at all. Moving onto "Twas the nightshift before Christmas" and there is a good eleme ...more

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Oct 19, 2019 Rebecca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

This is a follow up to Kay's wildly successful collection of anecdotes and tales from his time as a junior doctor 'This is Going to Hurt' which is absolutely LOVED and is still going strong in the book charts today. In this book, we have tales from the festive periods, where Kay found himself at work Christmas and New Year's Day over and over again.

It is heartfelt, it is funny, and it's highly important that we all read this book and take a moment to really appreciate the NHS staff - ...more

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Oct 18, 2019 Kirsty Noah-whitlock rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Review for 'Twas the Nightshift before Christmas' by Adam Kay

This book is from the author of 'This is going to hurt' which I thouroughly enjoyed so was over the moon when I discovered he was bringing this book out. This book is much shorter and is based on diary entries he wrote over Christmas shifts that he worked. It was very well written and had every range of diary entries from the gross to everyday, from hilarious to devastating and very emotional, especially one particular case ...more

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Oct 24, 2019 Amy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I absolutely adored Adam's first book, This is Going to Hurt, after picking it up in a charity shop; it made me laugh, smile, and cry buckets. So when I found out there was going to be a follow up I knew I had to get my hands on it straight away.

This is a lot shorter than his first book at just over 100 pages, and chronicles Adam's experiences working numerous Christmases over the years. I adored this follow up; I absolutely love the way that Adam writes because it is just captivatin ...more

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Oct 21, 2019 Kerry-louise Jones rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own-physical, rw-book-exchange-wants

Another fantastic instalment from Adam Kay!

I have to admit that I thought this was a little bit of a rip off when I first saw the size of it but I have just sat down and read it in one sitting and it had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions so I no longer begrudge the tiny size!

I love that in with the humour there are touching stories and reminders that we should take the time to think of others who don’t get to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

I also really really hope ...more

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Oct 18, 2019 Christine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

After reading 'This is going to hurt, I was super excited about this book coming out. I waited patiently for it to arrive on my kindle after pre-ording. This book is much shorter than first one but just as thought provoking, funny and gruesome. I really wished it was longer but it really made me think about all those people that work on Christmas providing services to various patients.

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Oct 23, 2019 Jemima rated it liked it · review of another edition

Hilarious in places and heart-wrenching in others, it's exactly what I expected from Adam Kay! My only complaint is that it wasn't long enough! I read this in one sitting in a coffee shop, and I'm sure I must have got odd looks- I was giggling to myself at one point, and close to tears at another.

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Oct 22, 2019 Danielle rayner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

After reading this is going to hurt I had very high expectations for this book.
I can certainly say it did not disappoint!
Adam Kay’s writing is so light hearted and funny yet when talking about certain cases you can feel the compassion and sympathy for patients.
100% recommend to read.

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Oct 19, 2019 Yasmine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars, non-fiction

A great little book that’s a nice follow on to ‘This is going to hurt’. I can’t help but wish it could be longer but it seems like most of the material was used in Kay’s first book, and there’s a finite resource of anecdotes to draw from (it is after all, a diary of real events).
Nonetheless an enjoyable read with a few laughs here and there.

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Oct 19, 2019 Katy Noyes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audible-review-copy

Extra tales from Kay with a festive flavour, as laugh-out-loud as ever.

Kay mentions in this that some of the stories were intended to be included in 'This is Going to Hurt', and they would have made a perfect 'Christmas' chapter in his first 'behind the NHS curtain' book.

This makes a good little stocking filler though, a second glimpse at the perennially exhausting, sometimes hilarious and often heartbreaking life of a doctor.

Kay takes us through twenty five s ...more

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Oct 29, 2019 Craig rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Much shorter but equally emotive.
This is simply harrowing and hilarious and inescapable honest. I read it in 3.5 hours.

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Oct 23, 2019 Kim Clough rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Compared to the first one I thought this fell a bit flat...

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Oct 24, 2019 Alexandra R rated it liked it · review of another edition

Enjoyable but very short in comparison to his first. Has some hilarious moments and heart breaking entries that takes some guts to get through.

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Oct 20, 2019 Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I was going to save this to read over Christmas but it came in the post this week and I couldn't resist it. Adam Kay's hospital anecdotes are honestly a joy to read. I highly recommend!

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