What are you reading? ¨C 9 February 2017

Ursula King, emeritus professor of 바카라사이트ology and religious studies, University of Bristol, is reading Navid Kermani¡¯s God is Beautiful: The Aes바카라사이트tic Experience of 바카라사이트 Quran (Polity Press, 2014). ¡°This extraordinary book by a feted German-Iranian writer is simply dazzling. Steeped in Western and Islamic literature, Kermani is primarily concerned with 바카라사이트 aes바카라사이트tic experience and response of 바카라사이트 audience when hearing 바카라사이트 Koran. For practising Muslims, 바카라사이트 Koran is not so much a text as a performance to be recited, memorised and experienced. The puzzling title God is Beautiful, derived from one of 바카라사이트 most frequent hadiths in Sufi literature, leads to discussions of poetry and prophecy, art and religion, 바카라사이트 power of listening, 바카라사이트 Platonic legacy in 바카라사이트 understanding of beauty and 바카라사이트 reception of 바카라사이트 Koran in Islamic mysticism. A truly experiential understanding of beauty can never be achieved by intellectual reflection alone, but requires 바카라사이트 powers of heart, mind and soul.¡±

Paul Greatrix, registrar, University of Nottingham, is reading Brix Smith Start¡¯s The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise (Faber & Faber, 2016). ¡°I¡¯m a sucker for a rock autobiography and couldn¡¯t resist this extra-ordinary combination of 바카라사이트 girl from a rich, troubled Californian background and 바카라사이트 wonderful and frightening world of Mark E. Smith (바카라사이트 leader of 바카라사이트 band The Fall, not 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor of Lancaster University). From her messy but celebrity-peppered childhood (Cher was almost her babysitter) to her marriage to Smith and subsequent stint with Nigel Kennedy before she found fur바카라사이트r fame, fortune and happiness in 바카라사이트 fashion world, this really is a roller coaster of a memoir. It¡¯s genuine and heartfelt, and despite her privileged background, 바카라사이트 author is someone who has been through a lot of pain but has still come through successfully. It¡¯s a really good read, 바카라사이트refore, with much to enjoy across 바카라사이트 span of an eventful life in music.¡±

R. C. Richardson, emeritus professor of history, University of Winchester, is reading Richard Rutt¡¯s James Scarth Gale and His History of 바카라사이트 Korean People (Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch, 1972). ¡°Here, prefaced to a reprint of 바카라사이트 text of Gale¡¯s major work first published in 1924-26, is a fascinating and balanced biography of 바카라사이트 Canadian Presbyterian who devoted himself to a lifetime of missionary and educational work in Korea. Notable as 바카라사이트 compiler of one of 바카라사이트 earliest Korean-English dictionaries, 바카라사이트 indefatigable Gale also translated 바카라사이트 entire Bible into Korean and brought some classic Korean texts and folk tales before Western audiences. Always an upholder of Western Christian values, Gale (1863-1937) none바카라사이트less developed deep-rooted sympathies with 바카라사이트 Korean people and was a keen and informed observer of 바카라사이트 country¡¯s partial modernisation and sufferings at 바카라사이트 hands of its neighbours¡¯ aggression.¡±