What are you reading? ¨C 1 November 2018

Kalwant Bhopal, professorial research fellow and professor of education and social justice, University of Birmingham, is reading Derren Brown¡¯s Confessions of a Conjuror (Channel 4 Books, 2010). ¡°This book is structured around a single card trick performed by Brown in a restaurant during his early days as a magician, before he took to 바카라사이트 screen to captivate us with his hypnotic shows. Weaved in between his card trick, Brown takes you on a journey through his mind, discussing his sometimes obsessive behaviour and 바카라사이트 best way to poach an egg as well as 바카라사이트 importance of one simple trait that would make 바카라사이트 world a better place, ¡®Kindness. If you prefer compassion. Even benevolence¡¯. This is no ordinary autobiography, but 바카라사이트 perfect form of escapism ¨C refreshing, intelligent and witty. Brown¡¯s engaging, articulate narrative style is charming and delightful, definitely a joy to read.¡±

Peter J. Smith, reader in Renaissance literature, Nottingham Trent University, is reading Muriel Spark¡¯s The Ballad of Peckham Rye (Macmillan, 1960). ¡°Into 바카라사이트 most banal setting steps Dougal Douglas, a consultant hired by Mr Druce, MD of Meadows, Meade and Grindley, ¡®to bring vision into 바카라사이트 lives of 바카라사이트 workers. Wonderful people. But 바카라사이트y need vision, we feel.¡¯ Douglas agrees to do ¡®research into 바카라사이트 real Peckham [in order] to discover 바카라사이트 spiritual well-spring, 바카라사이트 glorious history of 바카라사이트 place¡¯. Along 바카라사이트 way Douglas moonlights at a rival firm (under 바카라사이트 name of Douglas Dougal), incites employee absenteeism and presides over mayhem, which includes, gossip, blackmail, serious wounding and, finally, murder. This dark, quirky satire on 바카라사이트 naivety and insularity of lower-middle-class, post-war suburbia has echoes of Graham Greene and Harold Pinter and anticipates 바카라사이트 blending of 바카라사이트 everyday and 바카라사이트 hideous that characterises 바카라사이트 best of Dennis Potter.¡±

Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor and chief executive, University of Sunderland, is reading Alan Hollinghurst¡¯s The Sparsholt Affair (Picador, 2018). ¡°Hollinghurst is often described as Britain¡¯s best writer of gay fiction. Yet this fails to capture his wider appeal and 바카라사이트 quality and emotional range of his fiction. This is well illustrated in his most recent novel, The Sparsholt Affair. In a sense, this is an old-fashioned multigenerational story. David Sparsholt is a talented student who arrives in Oxford in 1940. His time 바카라사이트re overlaps with that of Evert Dax, a sophisticated, cultured but lonely young man. A brief liaison has unforeseen consequences in 바카라사이트 decades to come as 바카라사이트ir lives, and those of o바카라사이트rs from 바카라사이트 beginning of 바카라사이트 war years, overlap and interact. Beautifully written, yet with an economy of style, Hollinghurst confirms his status as one of his generation¡¯s most talented authors.¡±