Books like This is going to hurt
This is going to hurt by Adam Kay reads as humorous, cynical. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.
What This is going to hurt is like to read
Diary-format vignettes from NHS wards that swing between laugh-out-loud gallows humor and genuine gut-punches. Short, propulsive entries make it a fast read that accumulates weight by the end. Best for: readers who want darkly funny, candid memoir with real emotional stakes.
Revolution for the hell of it
Abbie Hoffman · 1968
Shares the vvoice + vhypno thread
So sad today
Melissa Broder · 2016
Reads like scrolling a very online, very anxious confessional feed turned essays — rapid, self-lacerating jokes about panic, sex, and addiction that puncture the humor with real bleakness.
Waiter rant
Steve Dublanica · 2008
Shares the vvoice thread
Bloods
Wallace Terry · 1984
Shares the vvoice + vhypno thread
You're on an Airplane
Parker Posey · 2015
Shares the vvoice + vhypno thread
The Disappearing Spoon
Sam Kean · 2010
A breezy tour of the periodic table told through anecdotes about scientists, wars, and oddities — episodic popular science that rewards curiosity over deep expertise.
Death by Black Hole
Neil deGrasse Tyson · 2007
An approachable tour of cosmic extremes, delivered in short, self-contained essays that explain hard physics in plain, engaging terms.
How to murder your life
Cat Marnell · 2017
A breathless, chaotic confessional voice narrates addiction and self-sabotage inside the glossy fashion-magazine world, mixing dark humor with raw self-loathing.
Foreskin's lament
Shalom Auslander · 2007
Shares the vvoice + vhypno thread
Open
Andre Agassi · 2009
An intimate, confessional sports memoir that reframes a public icon through the private cost of a childhood spent under a violent father's obsession.
The Innocents Abroad
Mark Twain · 1911
An episodic travelogue that skewers American tourists abroad as much as the Old World they gawk at — droll, observant, and unafraid to puncture reverence wherever it finds it.
Soledad Brother
George L. Jackson · 1970
Shares the vvoice + vhypno thread
About This is going to hurt — what the genome says
Is This is going to hurt a complete story or a cliffhanger?
It's a complete, standalone-satisfying story.
Who is This is going to hurt for?
readers who want darkly funny, candid memoir with real emotional stakes
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