Doctor-turned-writer Adam Kay is a National Year of Reading ambassador. He’s supporting the “Go All In” campaign to help people discover the joy of reading. His latest book, “A Particularly Nasty Case”, is out now in paperback.
Me Talk Pretty One Day
David Sedaris, 2000
I’d read anything by the ultimate acerbic essayist: bus timetables, laundry care labels... Luckily, I don’t have to, as he writes books. This one is warm and funny but sharp enough to cut, confronting Sedaris’ North Carolina upbringing and his brilliantly deranged family, before switching to his move to France and the frustrations of being a foreigner. Solid gold.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
The Glorious Dead
Justin Myers, 2025
One of my faves from last year: a funny and twisty examination of grief, reputational damage and toxic friendship. A famous writer dies unexpectedly, leaving friends and family bereft but their rose-tinted memories aren’t long for the world when his memoir is unearthed.
Heartburn
Nora Ephron, 1983
Ephron was known for writing blockbuster comedies like “When Harry Met Sally” but this novel was her greatest achievement – one of the funniest books ever written. Based on the collapse of her marriage after her husband’s affair, it’s an unflinching portrait of betrayal and petty vengeance. With recipes!
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾
Sue Townsend, 1982
The inner yearnings of Leicester’s most lovable loser are an instruction manual for every teenage boy on how not to navigate adolescence. Townsend’s genius creation works just as well 44 (aaagh!) years later; the political satire and impeccable comic timing make it so much more than the diary of history’s greatest frustrated intellectual.
The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster, 1961
My favourite book as a child, which I will be pushing on my own kids. A boy, bored by school, is transported to a magical kingdom and goes on a series of ludicrous quests. It is really a front for reinforcing the importance of a thirst for knowledge but is so funny and engrossing that young readers will never suspect a thing.
