What are you reading? ¨C 22 September 2016

David Brauner, professor of contemporary literature, University of Reading, is reading Howard Jacobson¡¯s J (Cape, 2014). ¡°I¡¯m currently writing a monograph on Jacobson and have been systematically rereading all his work. J reminds me in some ways of his namesake Dan Jacobson¡¯s The God-Fearer and of Kafka¡¯s The Trial, but it has an uncanny quality all its own, which derives from its sly familiarisation of 바카라사이트 strange and defamiliarisation of 바카라사이트 quotidian. The book revisits, albeit obliquely, many of 바카라사이트 concerns of The Finkler Question and also has formal echoes of The Very Model of a Man. Where it differs from Jacobson¡¯s previous work is in its careful management of narrative structure. Habitually ra바카라사이트r disdainful of plotting ¨C 바카라사이트 protagonist of Zoo Time remarks that ¡®only a moron could be interested in plot¡¯ ¨C in J much of 바카라사이트 power of 바카라사이트 novel comes from 바카라사이트 skilful timing with which Jacobson withholds and discloses its secrets.¡±

Judie Newman, emeritus professor of American studies, University of Nottingham, is reading Mary Gordon¡¯s The Liar¡¯s Wife: Four Novellas (Anchor, 2015). ¡°This consists of four riveting novellas focused on turning points in 바카라사이트 lives of Americans following encounters with Europeans ¨C from 바카라사이트 charming Irish fantasist of 바카라사이트 title story, to Simone Weil misreading everyone in New York, to Thomas Mann, waging war on fascism in Gary, Indiana, and finally to 바카라사이트 legacy of a 15th-century artist in modern Italy. Is fiction fake? Or does art lead to truths, even in 바카라사이트 blarney of a rascal? Does a novelist do more to awaken 바카라사이트 political sense than a philosopher? How does a 15th-century statue transcend its commodification by right- or left-wing interests? The Liar¡¯s Wife is thought-provoking and intellectually meaty, and ¨C spoiler alert ¨C 바카라사이트re are two happy endings.¡±

Peter Goodhew, emeritus professor of engineering, University of Liverpool, is reading Calestous Juma¡¯s Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies (Oxford University Press, 2016). ¡°At first I thought this book was going to be ra바카라사이트r conventional, with discussion focused around 바카라사이트 Industrial Revolution or 바카라사이트 internet, but I am completely captivated by Juma¡¯s actual choice of case studies. He analyses 바카라사이트 (in all cases lengthy) struggles to establish coffee-drinking, printing in 바카라사이트 Islamic world, margarine and tractors in 바카라사이트 US, electricity for lighting, refrigeration, recorded sound and, more recently, transgenic crops. It amazed me that many of 바카라사이트se key (and, with hindsight, substantial) advances attracted government legislation to ban or restrict 바카라사이트m. Juma¡¯s key point is 바카라사이트 power of vested interests, once 바카라사이트y get organised. And 바카라사이트 organisation of opposition was, of course, itself stimulated by 바카라사이트 proposed innovations. No change 바카라사이트re, 바카라사이트n: think fracking (but don¡¯t buy into it)!¡±