The results of a General Social Survey conducted in the United States, looking at heterosexual sex, suggested that men use approximately 1.1 billion condoms every year, compared to women who apparently use 1.6 billion. This is based on how much sex they claim to have, and how often they claim to use a condom. So, who is telling the truth? It turns out neither (according to the author) – fewer than 600 million condoms are sold each year. This book looks to dispel the notion that surv...| Adam Khan
“The Circle” is your typical silicone valley social media tech company, with its expansive campus, its open plan workspaces, and endless job perks. It is no surprise, then, that Mae is excited and optimistic about her new job here. Her job, in reality, is working in a glorified call centre - she has to answer the queries of customers and then bombard them with surveys until they succumb to giving her a score of 100 for her services. This is mundane and monotonous work, as the book is at p...| Adam Khan
“‘Look at this’, he had said, sliding the picture out of its slot. A heavily made-up woman, who couldn’t have been more than eighteen and might have been younger, smiled innocently at the camera, her hands holding her naked breasts.” In a book written about Donald Trump, and knowing the man he is today, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the above quote was about him. Mary Trump describes Donald as “the world’s most dangerous man”, which I think is far too charitable for a ...| Adam Khan
NOTE: This review was written without having read the book for a video. You can watch the video here. I first came across Yaa Gyasi when I read her debut novel “Homegoing”, and I have to say I wasn't a fan. I'm not sure what it was about it, but I read it a long time before I had this account when I read almost exclusively non-fiction. I was very reluctant to pick up Transcendent Kingdom, then, but since so many of you responded positively to it in a poll I shared, I decided I should give...| Adam Khan
If you've been around for a while, you'll know that this book has taken me a long time to read. I started this back in January and then again two or three times since. No matter how hard I tried, I always made it about a quarter of the way in before finding myself completely disengaged. I have been sharing my progress while reading this and people have offered some interesting thoughts. One observation was that there is a clear difference in opinion between men and women who read this book....| Adam Khan
It is the case with a lot of literary fiction that, if you are not entirely focused on the words on the page, you can find yourself reading but absorbing very little. You run the risk of finishing the book having read none of it. Kazuo Ishiguro’s books are interesting in this respect. If you’re not entirely focused, Ishiguro still gives you a small token of appreciation instead of leaving you with absolutely nothing. You may not be amazed by what you’ve just read, it may feel like ...| Adam Khan
The Box is a movie that was released in 2009. Arthur and Norma find a box on their doorstep that contains a big red button. They are told by a mysterious man that if the button is pushed, they will receive $1 million. However, the catch is that someone they do not know will die. I’m not going to reveal the rest of the story, however I can say that the deal is not so simple. The movie was based on a short story written by Richard Matheson, but it appears to belong to a wider genre. Recently ...| Adam Khan
Good Intentions is a story about Nur, a young British Pakistani Muslim, and his British Sudanese Muslim girlfriend Yasmina. Throughout the book, Nur is navigating his way between his girlfriend’s desire to meet his parents and take their relationship to the next level, and the fear that his parents will not approve of his black girlfriend, leaving him with no choice but to choose between his family and Yasmina. From a religious perspective, at least, if two Muslims wish to marry it should b...| Adam Khan
Vladimir is told through the eyes of a 58 year old English Literature professor, whose husband (John) is embroiled in a sex scandal with several past students. The open nature of their marriage means the book is less concerned with a scorned wife narrative. Instead, it is about practically navigating the situation she has found herself in, and the consequences of this arrangement for both parties. We are exposed to a lot of themes in a relatively short book. Power dynamics, gender roles, moth...| Adam Khan
Bookstagram is a relatively new playground for me. I have only really been active for a year or so, and in that time the community has helped transform my reading interests and preferences, and I’ve read and loved books that I would never have considered picking up before. I don’t, however, see non-fiction getting as much love as they should, and the ones that make it through to the fore are often memoirs. There’s nothing wrong with memoirs, but I feel there is so much out there that ...| Adam Khan
The debate about whether first person or third person perspective is superior is an interesting one. I generally do prefer reading from the first-person perspective of a character, particularly the realism and immediacy that comes with it. I don’t always want to know what everyone is thinking or doing, but I do appreciate that some books lend themselves to the third person, allowing the narration to be external to the story, omniscient, and objective. I think Foley manages the benefits o...| Adam Khan
I started writing book reviews about two years ago, initially posting them on Instagram. I never thought anyone would be interested in reading what I had to say, but I suppose you don’t know for sure until you try. My reviews are probably on the long side compared to the average, but if I’m being honest, I’m always astounded at people’s ability to summarise their thoughts so succinctly into the Instagram caption. I can’t do that; I need the extra words. My reviews are not exactly ...| Adam Khan
He arrived early to his first year Public Policy lecture. He never liked being late, having 200 eyes on him as he pierced the veil of concentration and walked down the steps to find an unobstructed vacant seat. He would rather be an hour early than five minutes late. He takes a seat in the front row. This represents an apology to the lecturer but was also his way of preventing himself from falling asleep, to glean as much value from his student fee, and for his view to remain unobstructed by ...| Adam Khan
I’m quite disappointed I read this book this month, because it means it has been sitting on my bookshelf for months being ignored. The Five tells the tales of some of the world’s most famous people, from a perspective that is seldom heard. Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary-Jane were all murdered in 1888, allegedly by the same elusive serial killer, Jack the Ripper. Hallie Rubenhold sets out to tell their stories, where they came from, how they met their demise, and their uniq...| Adam Khan
It seems I am working through Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels backwards; first I read Klara and the Sun, I then read Never Let Me Go, and now The Remains of the Day. Ishiguro is a curious author; I’m yet to read a book of his that I felt immediately wowed by, though I don’t doubt that is a [possibly unintended] consequence of his writing style, of which I am generally a fan. However, in each case so far, I have left thinking about what I have just read for days, weeks, months. The characters ...| Adam Khan
I recently finished reading Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates, a book that is, in many ways, a sequel and natural progression to Bates’ previous publications. Having established beyond doubt in Everyday Sexism and Misogynation that sexism exists and is a huge systemic issue in western society, Laura uses this book as an opportunity to delve deeper into the debate and attempts to uncover the ever growing, insidious, underground political movement that is at the forefront of propelling viral ...| Adam Khan
The Tidal Zone centres around a single life changing event, the moment 15-year-old Miriam stops breathing at her school in Coventry. She survives, and the entire episode, before and after this event, is told from the perspective of Adam Goldschmidt, a stay-at-home father. Moss near perfectly encapsulates what a life changing event like this can do to the very fabric of your being. I can profess that it is always on your mind, every day you discover the new ways in which it has changed your li...| Adam Khan
England’s charge in the Euro 2020 Championships was immense. They had never made it to a final, in fact this tournament was one of many records. It was the first in which they had not lost a knockout game*, one in which they have maintained a record number of clean sheets, and they have the second youngest team in the tournament with an average age of 25. This is also one of the most diverse England sides I have seen. There are players in the squad who represent all corners of England, with...| Adam Khan
Jessica lives with her husband Mark and their young daughter Isabelle in Ridgeview Pines, a leafy suburb in Detroit, Michigan. Following a tragic accident, a less than desirable resident dies, though Jessica suspects foul play and when more strange things start to happen her life is quickly turned u| Adam Khan
Trigger warning: everything (self-harm, sexual abuse, eating disorder, drug abuse, child abuse, domestic abuse, death, and probably much more). A Little Life is nothing more than 720 pages of misery porn, masquerading as a nuanced insight into the life of someo| Adam Khan