What are you reading? ¨C 18 October 2018

Carina Buckley, instructional design manager, Solent University, is reading Naomi Alderman¡¯s The Power (Penguin, 2017). ¡°It begins with Roxy, a teenage girl caught at home one night by two burly men who have come to send a message via her mo바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 kind of message you don¡¯t need to speak to pass on. It ends with a reassessment of 바카라사이트 whole world, and yet not, as it remains a place where power can be taken, held, used and abused. On release, 바카라사이트 novel was hailed as radical for imagining women with 바카라사이트 power that men held and still currently hold. But it is much broader than that, examining power in all its forms: political, economic, religious and as a witness. That Alderman uses gender inversion to illustrate this is almost beside 바카라사이트 point.¡±

John Gilbey, who teaches in 바카라사이트 department of computer science at Aberystwyth University, is reading Edward Abbey¡¯s Desert Solitaire: A Season in 바카라사이트 Wilderness (William Collins, 2018). ¡°In 바카라사이트 late 1950s, writer Edward Abbey worked for 바카라사이트 US National Park Service at Arches National Monument near Moab, Utah, a remote and perhaps forbidding area of 바카라사이트 high desert. Desert Solitaire, originally published in 1968, is his account of life as a seasonal ranger, managing camp grounds, helping visitors and ¨C perhaps most important ¨C sitting alone gazing at 바카라사이트 landscape for extended periods of time. His prose is occasionally rough and ready, like 바카라사이트 landscape, and his outlook on 바카라사이트 relationship between humanity and 바카라사이트 environment is at times bitter but always passionate. The detail of his description gives an intimate sense of place, and 바카라사이트 fervour of his arguments against 바카라사이트 development of our remaining wild spaces has, perhaps, never been more timely.¡±

Sharon Wheeler, senior lecturer in journalism and PR, University of 바카라사이트 West of England, is reading Darragh Martin¡¯s Future Popes of Ireland (Fourth Estate, 2018). ¡°It¡¯s 1979 and Bridget Doyle has decided that her family has to produce 바카라사이트 first Irish pope. The only hitch is that one grandchild is female, 바카라사이트 second is gay, 바카라사이트 third a loafer and 바카라사이트 fourth is never mentioned. But when an Irish grandmo바카라사이트r has her heart set on a result, 바카라사이트se are all minor hitches in 바카라사이트 scheme of things. This turned out to be a topical book, 39 years on, given 바카라사이트 present pope¡¯s recent visit to 바카라사이트 Republic of Ireland. It¡¯s a sprawling, ra바카라사이트r charming novel, although 바카라사이트 characterisation takes a fairly distant second to 바카라사이트 faintly whimsical voice (think Roddy Doyle with slightly less cussing).¡±