Frank Sinatra Has A Cold by Gay Talese
excellent CNF collection spanning several decades and several lives…
Author: scottmanleyhadley
I like to read but little else. I have bad mental health and a dog. And a baby. And no hair. And a blog.
THE BIG BALD BOOK CLUB EPISODE ONE – THE GREAT GATSBY
two bald heads are talkier than one
The Dry by Jane Harper
should should should should should should should … reflections on reading more trash forces a reckoning likely to be unreckoned
Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
never before have i read a whole book anticipating non-existent cannibalism
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
a heady joyful experience, incidentally diagnosing Heathcliff with BPD
SOLID BALD presents: ‘fangs for the folk’
solid bald sings again…
Under The Hawthorn Tree by Marita Conlon-McKenna
a harrowing and serious read: this is a book they give to children in Ireland
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. D*ck
spoiler: androids *don’t* dream of electric sheep
TEN WORDS OR FEWER INTERVIEW: Bonar Ash, author of My Heart In Hiding
a short form interview with Bonar Ash, author of My Heart In Hiding
On The Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle
don’t mention groundhog day don’t mention groundhog day don’t mention groundhog day
TEN WORDS OR FEWER INTERVIEW: Will Camden, author of Confessions of a Professional Conspiracy Theorist
a brief interview with Will Camden, author of Confessions of a Professional Conspiracy Theorist
Noah Fang Quicksilver by Barracuda Guarisco
it’s my kind of stuff at length oh yes please
Dhalgren by Samuel R.Delany
800 brilliant unresolved pages that work work work
IMPERSONAL INTERVIEWS: Benjamin Schmitt, author of Satan’s School for Girls and Other Works.
an excellent interview with Benjamin Schmitt, touching on a lot of important ideas
Re-Re-reading The Great Gatsby (once again)
re-re-reading The Great Gatsby. It’s great. The title is a fair review.
The Destruction of Palestine is The Destruction of the Earth by Andreas Malm
some very serious stuff, for once
Podcast Appearance: Sam Joseph’s Comedians On… Technology, People & Drugs
i join Sam Joseph to discuss comedy, people, technology and drugs (I like one of the four)
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
a flat opening to a series I’ll persist with (but only because the books are so short)
Advanced Elvis Course by CAConrad
…erotic devotionals, and an argument for – and evidence of – the eternal importance of Elvis…
Queen by Birgitta Trotzig
a beautiful, tight, novella about the way things so often crumble
Obiter Dicta: An accidental conversation between visitors at Frieze London 2025 by Alexa Wright
another great micro-chapbook from Tony White’s Piece of Paper Press
The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K Le Guin, edited by So Mayer and Sarah Shin
the publication accompanying a beautiful exhibition of fictional cartography
Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky
a haunting novel about the hauntings of a brief extraterrestrial visit
A/V INTERVIEW: PAN’S PEOPLE: THE LEE WARD STORY
a serious interview about a hard life that found hope and a satisfying second act
The Malingerer by Theophilus Garcia
a short, engaging novel that has something to say, though I’m not 100% sure what it is
The Unlit City by Patrick Hawkes
a fun Soho picaresque leads scott manley hadley astray
TRAILER FOR MY 2026 LIVE COMEDY SHOW:
new trailer for my live show BALD PERSONALITY DISORDER
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
notes on a piece of classic entertainment with a classic sexist bite
So Much Blue by Percival Everett
if every novel was this good no one would ever need to be unhappy
The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
a book for reading with a drink and no shirt
SOLID BALD PRESENTS: ‘can’t say peekaboo feat. bb whamathan’
more playing around with music
Dancers In The Dark & Layla Steps Up: The Layla Collection by Charlaine Harris
charlaine harris does it again… again and again and again and again
Searoad: Chronicles of Klatsand by Ursula Le Guin
[Not] What We Talk About When We Talk About Ursula Le Guin
SOLID BALD PRESENTS: “baby///vampire – demo ep rec 15th jan 2026”
vampire song, baby song, baby song, vampire song. It’s not complex
The Rose Field by Philip Pullman (The Book of Dust Volume 3)
a disappointing finale to a disappointing trilogy that i read all of anyway
How To Talk Dirty and Influence People: An Autobiography by Lenny Bruce
an interesting, funny, sad memoir that leaves a lot of gaps…
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
a serious book about the past that I hope doesn’t predict the future
2026 hopes/dreams/plans
looking ahead (and that’s fine to do one week in)
2025 in the Rear View
accidentally had a successful year (by my own metrics, which are probably not yours)
TriumphOfTheNow.com – a Manifesto (a Personifesto)
what is Triumph of the Now? It’s scott manley hadley
The Essential Lenny Bruce: His Original Unexpurgated Satirical Routines, edited by John Cohen
reading some work of an important early comedian
Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch
what if we could all be geniuses… for a few months as we die of germ warfare???
IMPERSONAL INTERVIEWS: Keith Woodhouse, author of Selected Works
Meet Keith Woodhouse: artist, poet and author of Selected Works.
The Touch Report by Katrina Palmer
a book about the normalised violence of the visual arts canon
Question 7 by Richard Flanagan
phenomenal stuff from an acclaimed writer I’ve never previously encountered
Windslash: The Last Elemental by Chris Bennett
being English poisons the mind; I read a fantasy novel that intentionally repeats itself
IMPERSONAL INTERVIEW: Theophilus Garcia, author of The Malingerer
an interview with Theophilus Garcia, author of The Malingerer
The Exhaust of Dreams Adulterated by Jane Rosenberg LaForge
a lovely collection of engaging autobiographical poetry
Common by Nikolai Duffy
contemporary intellectual mid-life crisis novel that focuses on the life of the head not the life of the heart
IMPERSONAL INTERVIEW: DONOVAN REYES, author of DENOUEMENT and APOCRYPHA
an interview with DONOVAN REYES, author of two new books
Triumph Of The Now 