We have your summer reading sorted with three novels, an academic study, plus one for the kids. 1. Author Ron Butlin Degree Arts Book Day of the Trolls It’s the Day of the Trolls: Fart-Fart and all the trolls are back! Join them in the shopping mall where they go wild, causing havoc as they overrun the place. But when they follow sign saying All Trolls – This Way, things turn out very differently to what Flycatcher, Bumscratcher, SnotFace, Squeer and the rest of them expected . . . Ron Butlin is an award-winning poet, playwright, novelist, short story writer children’s author and librettist whose works have been translated into many languages. He regularly gives creative writing workshops in schools, and was Edinburgh Makar from 2008 to 2014. Day of the Trolls 2. Author Sophie Cameron Degree French, Comparative and General Literature Book Out of the Blue Sophie Cameron’s Out of the Blue is a story of love and acceptance and finding your place in this world, as angels drop out of another. When angels start falling from the sky, it seems like the world is ending. But for Jaya the world ended when her mother died, two weeks before the first angel fell. Smashing down to earth at extraordinary speeds, wings bent, faces contorted, not a single angel has survived and, as the world goes angel crazy, Jaya’s father uproots the family to Edinburgh, intent on catching one alive. But Jaya can’t stand his obsession and, struggling to make sense of her mother’s sudden death and her own role on that fateful day, she’s determined to stay out of it. Then something extraordinary happens: an angel lands right at Jaya’s feet, and it’s alive . . . Set against the backdrop of the frenzied Edinburgh festival, Out of the Blue tackles questions of grief and guilt and fear over who we really are. Out of the Blue 3. Author Katy Mahood Degree English Literature Book Entanglement Plunging back thirty years we watch as, unknown to them all, the lives of Stella and John, and Charlie and his girlfriend Beth, are pulled ever closer, an invisible thread connecting them across the decades and through London’s busy streets. For Stella, becoming a young mother in the 1970s puts an end to her bright academic career in a way John can’t seem to understand. Meanwhile Charlie gambles all future happiness with Beth when his inner demons threaten to defeat him. In rhythmic and captivating prose, Katy Mahood effortlessly interweaves the stories of these two families who increasingly come to define one another in the most vital and astounding ways. With this soaring debut, she explores the choices and encounters that make up a lifetime, reminding us just how closely we are all connected. Entanglement 4. Author Duane A. Miller Degree PhD Divinity Book Two Stories of Everything: The Competing Metanarratives of Islam and Christianity Scholars and preachers have been approaching Islam and Christianity for centuries as two religions. But what if we set that approach aside and try something new? What if we look at the stories that Islam and Christianity tell? In this book we do exactly that: we go back to the beginning of the stories – Creation – and work our way forward to humanity, Israel, the founders (Jesus and Muhammad), why they founded their communities (the Church and the Umma), what those communities are doing in the world today, and then look down the road to the end of the two stories of everything with their different accounts of the final judgment. Approaching Islam and Christianity as two stories of everything, or metanarratives, produces fresh new insights relevant to any person – whether Christian, Muslim, or of no religion – concerned with the question of how Islam, Christianity, and modernity interact and sometimes clash with each other. Two Stories of Everything: The Competing Metanarratives of Islam and Christianity Duane's blog 5. Author Joe Mungo-Reed Degree Philosophy and Politics Book We Begin Our Ascent Sol and Liz are a couple on the cusp. He’s a professional cyclist in the Tour de France, a workhorse but not yet a star. She’s a geneticist on the brink of a major discovery, either that or a loss of funding. They’ve just welcomed their first child into the world, and their bright future lies just before them—if only they can reach out and grab it. But as Liz’s research slows, as Sol starts doping, their dreams grow murkier and the risks graver. Over the whirlwind course of the Tour, they enter the orbit of an extraordinary cast of conmen and aspirants, who draw the young family ineluctably into the depths of an illegal drug smuggling operation. As Liz and Sol flounder to discern right from wrong, up from down, they are forced to decide: What is it we’re striving for? And what is it worth? We Begin Our Ascent dances nimbly between tragic and comic, exploring the cost of ambition and the question of what gives our lives meaning. Reed melds the powerful themes of great marital dramas like Revolutionary Road with the humor, character, and heart of a George Saunders collection. Throughout, we’re drawn inside the cycling world and treated to the brilliant literary sports-writing of modern classics like The Art of Fielding or End Zone. We Begin Our Ascent Your book If you are a member of the alumni community and have recently published a book, we would be delighted to include it in the Alumni Bookshelf. Email the details, along with your degree details, to Brian Campbell: Email Brian Campbell Please note Books are added to the bookshelf in order of submission. All of the further information links listed are the external websites of the book publisher, the author, or the bookseller. The University of Edinburgh is not responsible for the content and functionality of these sites. This article was published on 2024-10-28
