Bath Spa Books: Your Summer Reading List

Bath Spa Books: Your Summer Reading List

Summer is finally here, and as the academic year draws to a close, we're looking forward to long days in the tall grass, lounging in a beach chair, and making the most of the extra hours of daylight - which means plenty of time to make a dent in our summer reading list. As always, the BSU community has you covered!

Here are the latest books from our community to tuck into your beach bag:

California Waves – Bella Andre and Nicky Arden, MA Creative Writing 

Meet the Davenport family! Six brothers and sisters who call picturesque Carmel-by-the-Sea home. Successful, brilliant, and passionate, the only thing they all still need is the perfect partner in love and life...

The Best Way to Bury Your Husband – Dr Alexia Casale, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing 

Four new friends. Four dead bodies. One big problem... 
 
Sally never meant to cave her husband's head in with a skillet. Or at least she didn't until suddenly, she did. But Sally isn't the only woman in town being pushed to breaking point. When coincidence brings four strangers together, a surprising solidarity is formed. 
 
So can they find the best way to bury their husbands - and get away with it? 

The Love Interest – Helen Comerford, MA Writing for Young People 

Seventeen-year-old Jenna Ray has just been saved by the world's newest superhero, Blaze. And, in the eyes of the public, that means one thing: Jenna Ray has been cast as the Love Interest. No. Not happening. Not if Jenna has anything to say about it (even if Blaze is actually quite sweet and cute). 
 
But her plans to defy the HPA (the Heroics and Power Authority) and turn down this new role are thwarted when the Villains begin to take an interest in her and offer a life-changing proposition... 

The Theatre of Glass and Shadows – Anne Corlett, MA Creative Writing 

Juliet’s mother died when she was a baby. Brought up by her emotionally distant father and even more distant stepmother, she has never felt wanted. It’s only when her father passes away that Juliet – now nineteen – learns the truth about her birth. 

Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit – Clare Harlow, MA Writing for Young People 

For most people, the Tide-blessing they are born with is nothing more than a simple party trick: eyes that change colour, or the ability to recite a poem backwards. Some, though, are blessed with more powerful gifts. Telepathy. Flight. 
 
Or, in the case of Ista Flit, being able to transform to look like someone else. Anyone else... 

Bringing Back Kay-Kay – Dev Kothari, MA Writing for Young People 

When Lena’s beloved older brother goes missing at the end of summer camp, the bottom drops out of Lena's world. The police dismiss Kay-Kay’s disappearance as that of just another teenage runaway, but Lena knows they are wrong. Tired of not being listened to, powerless to reach her parents through their grief and unable to imagine a future without her brother in it, Lena sets off to find him. 

Human Flourishing - A Conceptual Analysis – Dr Eri Mountbatten-O'Malley, Senior Lecturer in Education Policy 

In this first systematic reconstruction of the concept of human flourishing, Eri Mountbatten-O'Malley addresses the central problems with the treatment of the concept in psychology, education, policy and science. Drawing on Wittgenstein and his followers, he develops a sophisticated methodology of conceptual analysis and makes the case for paying closer attention to complex human contexts, purposes and uses. 

The Man with the Golden Tongue – Sue Walker, MA Writing for Young People 

“Don’t touch – it’s poisonous,” thirteen-year-old Jess Ponder, the Schools’ Secret Agency ‘Double A-Star’ agent, tells schoolmate and master of the forged sick-note, Leo Sleepwell, when he sees a trail of dried, gold saliva on the seal of an envelope. The letter it contained was sent to Jess by the notorious Nine-carat, aka ‘The Man with the Golden Tongue’... 

So begins a fast-paced, James Bond-inspired adventure where Jess must contend with not only Nine-carat’s evil intentions, but also his mischievous monkey, a martial arts-mad man in flares, anxiety-inducing apparatus, and her friend Leo’s gargantuan appetite. 

Do you have a story to tell? Our Creative Writing courses can help you find your voice and take your writing to the next level.