Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, hasn’t it? I’ve been super busy lately and was on holiday for a few weeks so didn’t have much time to focus on reading!
I posted my last reading challenge update back in August and I’m ashamed to say I’ve only finished one book since! Oops! I didn’t want to start a new book before I went on holiday as I wanted to take a brand new one to last me the full trip, however, Disney is just such a fun-filled holiday as it is, there isn’t really much time left for reading! I completely forgot I had a book on the flight over as I was too excited/nervous and just wanted to touch down at the other side! However, I did start reading it on the way home in an attempt to make me a bit more relaxed and take my mind off the horrific turbulence we encountered! Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get into the book I was reading so decided to move on to something else instead, here is the book I recently finished…
Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas – Adam Kay
Blurb
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 the blue curtain at Christmastime.
Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas is a love letter to all those who spend their festive season on the front line, removing babies and baubles from the various places they get stuck, at the most wonderful time of the year.
If you’ve read my previous reading challenge posts, you’ll know that I absolutely loved Adam Kay’s first book, ‘This Is Going To Hurt’, so you can imagine my delight when I found out he had written another! For those of you who don’t know, I was originally training to be a Midwife when I left school but a few bumps in the road in my personal life meant that unfortunately, I had to put that on hold for a while and I’ve just never had chance to get back into it! Nowadays, I really enjoy reading medical non-fiction and memoirs and Adam Kay’s was genuinely the best one I’ve ever read. I eagerly anticipated the release date of ‘Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas’ and went out to buy it straight away, I just couldn’t wait to get stuck into this one and I highly recommend that you read his previous book if you haven’t already.
Every time I read Adam Kay’s books, you can see more and more how much he genuinely cared for each of his patients rather than it just being his job, which particularly shined through in this book.
This one was getting mixed reviews on Goodreads and I’m not really sure why as it was just as good and just as funny as his first book! I genuinely laughed out loud reading this book just as I did with his first one and it was important to see that the entire world doesn’t stop to celebrate Christmas, people still get sick and NHS staff still need to take care of them, so I feel it spreads an important message to spare a thought for those that don’t get to spend the festive season with their families (though, I don’t think Adam minded tbh)
Some of the stories he has to share are just the craziest and it really makes you question the sanity of the general public. As well as showing the funny side, Kay also shares a few really heart-wrenching stories he experienced over the Christmases and new year’s he spent working for the NHS, the saddest one, in my opinion, is the story of the young couple on the fifth New Years Eve he spent working for the NHS, this one was particularly heartbreaking.
I feel some people might have missed the point with this book, I think they may have thought this was supposed to be a full-on memoir just as bulky as the first book, however, I always saw it as more of a ‘Christmas Special’.
I’ve seen a few reviews on Goodreads saying that the book never ‘developed’ but that is the point of a memoir, it’s a log of recollections. It’s not going to ‘develop’ in the way that a fiction book would because it isn’t fiction, it’s real life.
I think the length of the book was perfect for a quick read and could easily be read in one day if you wanted. Just as with the first book, the diary entry style makes it ideal for dipping in and out of and would be a great read on your morning commute (providing you’re not the one driving)
I loved this book so much and I really hope Adam Kay has more stories to share with us in the future!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
So, that is my latest reading challenge update! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you soon with the final instalment and reading challenge 2019 round-up!
Related
2019 Reading Challenge – August Edit
2019 Reading Challenge – July Edit
2019 Reading Challenge – June Edit
