Big Sur by Jack Kerouac
Without a shadow of a doubt, Big Sur is the best book by Jack Kerouac I have ever read. It wasContinue Reading
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Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau
This is edited from a brief presentation I gave in a class. So it’s more literary than usual and doesn’tContinue Reading
Paula by Isabel Allende
In December 1991 Isabel Allende’s daughter Paula fell into a coma. With little knowledge of how long it would lastContinue Reading
Autobiography by Morrissey
It is a key belief of my that it is important to, occasionally, read bad books. Otherwise, how is oneContinue Reading
After The Fall by Arthur Miller
I have had one of the most boring days of my life. I dedicated OVER SEVEN HOURS to getting holdContinue Reading
Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It by Geoff Dyer
I have an odd relationship with the works of Geoff Dyer. There are books of his that I rate asContinue Reading
On The Stage
I had not been in front of an audience, on a stage, for several years until this week. Then, fromContinue Reading
The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist by Orhan Pamuk
This little book, collected from a series of lectures Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk gave in 2009, is an interesting textContinue Reading
Homage To Catalonia by George Orwell
I had been intending to read George Orwell’s Homage To Catalonia ever since I encountered Down And Out In Paris And London,Continue Reading
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is a fucking emotional rollercoaster of a book. It tells the story, in great detail,Continue Reading
The Penguin Book of New American Voices edited by Jay McInerney
I found this excellent 90s-scene short story collection in a charity shop, picking it up mainly because amongst its sixteenContinue Reading
The Walking Dead: Compendium Two by Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard
Reading two comic books within two months makes me look like far less of the sleek, hip-hop player most peopleContinue Reading
The Passover Plot by Hugh J. Schonfield
I had intended to spend the day writing the “dopest”* literary rap of all time, but I have instead beenContinue Reading
The Sea Close By by Albert Camus
I bought this little promotional book for £2 on impulse a few weeks ago. I read it today. The SeaContinue Reading
Three Tales by Gustave Flaubert
I found myself a copy of Flaubert’s 1877 short story collection Three Tales in order to read ‘Herodias’, his piece aboutContinue Reading
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
I was recommended to read If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things in order to marvel at McGregor’s impressive ability to leapContinue Reading
Simulating Cunnilingus On A Fried Egg Sandwich
The fridge didn’t have the food in to facilitate a fry up: no bacon, no sausage, no mushroom, no tomato.Continue Reading
The Atrocity Exhibition by JG Ballard
This is the first book I have ever read by JG Ballard. I haven’t read any of his famous ones,Continue Reading
Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
Wow. I just finished reading this long collection of themed poems, and found it pretty impressive. Birthday Letters, Ted Hughes’Continue Reading
Umbrella by Will Self
Will Self’s 2012 novel Umbrella, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize that went to Bring Up The Bodies, is a sexy, war-y, JoyceanContinue Reading
On Coming Out As A Catholic
I’ve decided that from now on I am going to self-identify as a Catholic. A couple of days ago IContinue Reading
77 Dream Songs by John Berryman
I’m reading less because I’m busy, yeah, I have a life and whatever. Today I read 77 Dream Songs by JohnContinue Reading
The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolaño
The Skating Rink, or La Pista Del Hielo, was Roberto Bolaño’s first novel. It was published in Spanish in 1993 andContinue Reading
On Missing Linguistic Isolation
Something clicked in my head while I was away this Summer. I don’t know if it was something I ate,Continue Reading
Signifying Rappers by David Foster Wallace & Mark Costello
When I learnt about the recent republication of David Foster Wallace’s 1990 academic text about hip-hop only days after fallingContinue Reading
On The Dotted Line: Signatures, Sobriety*, Schoolbooks & Shearing
So, I’ve been back in the UK for three weeks. What have I been up to? Where has the streamContinue Reading
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
I saw the film version of Watchmen a couple of years ago and hated it. I saw it when my alcoholContinue Reading
Hear Us O Lord from heaven thy dwelling place by Malcolm Lowry
Malcolm Lowry died in 1957, having published only two books (both novels) in his lifetime: the youthful Ultramarine (1934, myContinue Reading
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Wow. Fuck a diddle wank, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest (1996) is a full blown literary compendium of joy. Deeply philosophical,Continue Reading
The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
Right. My blog is back in business, back to books. (As I’m sure you can see, my hair is far,Continue Reading
Mykonos, My Parasitic Anal Infection & My Binge Drinking Shame
I’m pretty certain, as I sadly sit at my faithful kitchen table back on England’s silage strewn shores, that somewhereContinue Reading
Birthday Blog Post: You Ain’t Achieved Nothin’ Yet, OR Old Men, On The Road and Becoming an Old Man On The Road
Twenty five is not, in itself, a significant birthday. However, it does mean that one has distinctly reached an ageContinue Reading
I Don’t Practice Santorini, I Ain’t Got No Piss-tal Ball: Urinating on a Woman, the Greek Pompeii and Over-Priced Drinks
‘Please,’ she said, wiggling her arse in apparent desperate need and pulling her red and black one piece to theContinue Reading
Having a Riot in Athens: Passing Out on the Floor, Pube Trimming, Heavy Drinking, Self-Harming AND Visiting the New Acropolis Museum
My second day in Athens I woke up, fully dressed, contact lenses in, on the floor. A chair I mayContinue Reading
It Ain’t Brindisi Livin’ Free, Or: You Know What They Say About Men With Big Carbon Footprints*
I woke up at five thirty on my final morning in Palermo. I’d spent the evening before being highly irritatedContinue Reading
Scott Manley Hadley’s Palermo-st Excellent Adventure: Bad Bags, Bad Bank Cards and Caverns of Capuchin Corpses
My last morning in Tunis was dedicated to finding myself a new bag, a new, large, bag in which toContinue Reading
Tunis To See You, To See You Ellipsis (Out of Service, Out of Africa: Returning To Europe, Reading an American Book)
My five day trip to Tunis was a colossal series of fuck ups. My baggage lost by the airline, myContinue Reading
An Outcast of the Islands by Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was notorious for being unable to write women. Actually, no, less that, he was more notorious for veryContinue Reading
Scott Manley Hadley, Queen of Carthage (It Reminds Me That It’s Not So Bad, It’s Not So Ba-ah-ad)*
Despite dandling no one on my lap, my time in Tunis (so far) has been a highspincycle of emotion. ThereContinue Reading
We’ll Always Have Casablanca: Getting Out of Morocco and Racing Through Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos
Casablanca felt very different to the other Moroccan cities I visited. Very European, actually, in terms not just of architecture,Continue Reading
Don’t Marrakech, Fuck Me: The Beautiful South of Morocco (And Modern Moroccans on a Train!)
Now, being pedantic w/r/t* geography, Marrakech is in CENTRAL Morocco. But it’s further south of everywhere bar the desert IContinue Reading
Of Mutability, Sad and Sand: Me Reading Jo Shapcott in the Sahara Desert as I Really Start To Feel The Loss Of The Anti-Depressants
I’m pretty certain, as I write this on the minibus back to Marrakech, that I have sand inside my anus.Continue Reading
A Rubbish Couple of Days
Over the last few days I have made a series of unforgivable travel booboos. Yesterday I nearly gave myself heatstroke,Continue Reading
Ul-Essaouira-sses: James Joyce and Morocco’s Atlantic Coast
Desperately needing some cooler weather and a low pressure environment in which to cold turkey from the anti-depressants I’d beenContinue Reading
On Not Being Bowles-ed Over by Paul Bowles’ Let It Come Down
Spent two nights in Marrakech, ran into most of the people I’d met before, had a pleasant time, but I’mContinue Reading
Exploring Fes, Grappling With John Ashbery’s Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
I’ve tried recreation, Reading until late at night, train rides And romance. from ‘Worsening Situation’ by John Ashbery As IContinue Reading
We’re Chefchaouen Most Our Lives: Living In A Stoner’s Paradise
In the Rif mountains, a little under halfway between Tangier and Fes, is the beautiful blue town of Chefchaouen. ItsContinue Reading
Straddling The Strait of Gibraltar: Tarifa & Tangier
In the southernmost tip of Western Europe is a small beach resort town called Tarifa. Full of hostels, kite-boarding schools,Continue Reading
Granada: It’s Pretty Shit
Now, I’m not going to claim that the Alhambra isn’t a stunning and borderline must-see architectural wonderland. The Alhambra’s great.Continue Reading
Seville Sign-Off: Horse Piss, Stunning Views and Roman Remains
Seville is fucking beautiful. Take the Giralda for instance, the 12th century minaret turned belltower. Quite the pleasant monument, no?Continue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 