Bryn y Crogwr - Bethan Gwanas
Here is another Stori Sydyn book, this time from the mighty Bethan Gwanas … and just for the incredible price of £1. This, in my opinion, is a very good book and worthy of a price tag 4 or 5 times higher.
This story is (supposedly) a horror about a tree surgeon who experiences some weird stuff going on while treating an old oak with an interesting history going back to the days of Owain Glyndŵr.
Again, Stori Sydyn = beginner/intermediate level.
You are right about expense of this thread. Y Lolfa staff will be working flat out at this rate to meet demand!
Since there are already so many books by Bethan Gwanas in this thread, I thought her most recent one would be a good addition too.
“Efa:Cyfres y Melanai” is a young-adult book, the first in a trilogy, and it deals with typical YA themes: first love, choices, family, rebellion, friendship. Also, like many other YA books it is set in the future, but not the future we would expect: in this book, people are back to living like in the Middle ages. In fact, I wouldn’t have even guessed the book was set in the future if we weren’t explicitly told so, but I expect there will be more about how the world got this way in the next books.
The main character, Efa, is a princess of a small country, and in order to become queen, she needs to kill her mother, the previous queen, in a ritual that symbolizes rejuvenation. The main plot is about Efa trying to find a solution to avoid doing that.
The premise was intriguing and you can find real historical parallels (Sultans in the Ottoman empire being forced to kill all their brothers, as a more recent one). The execution was good, too, though the scene at the end of the book was a bit gory for my taste (but I’m a very sensitive person and gory for me will probably be okay for 99% of other readers), and I don’t like books that end with massive cliffhangers. But it was a very good read overall: well-paced and suspenseful, with a likable main character. The language will probably be okay for intermediate learners.
Thanks for this. Eva was going to be my next book to read (after the one I’ve just started) but I didn’t realise it’s the first of a trilogy. I think I’ll put it off until I have all three in my hand. It sounds fascinating.
It is fascinating, I’m really looking forward to the sequel - according to my calculations, it should be out this November or December.
And thank you for all the wonderful reviews here - after reading this thread I’ve decided to add “Hi yw fy ffrind” to my list (something that I probably should have done earlier, since, as I can understand, it’s one of the most popular books in modern Welsh). I’ve also been looking at “I Botany Bay”, since I like historical fiction.
Right now I’m reading “Y Nant” by Bet Jones, which has been a nice detective story so far, but I’ll wait till I finish the book to write a proper review.
I Botany Bay - Bethan Gwanas
Seeing as @seren mentioned it … This is a really interesting concept that BG pulled off excellently. It tells the story of a real Welsh girl by the name of Ann Lewis with a lot of poetic license thrown in. Basically the history records show who she was and where she was at certain stages of her life and Bethan Gwanas has filled in the gaps to create a wonderful, exciting life story for this girl. I can’t go into more detail incase you are the only person who doesn’t know how this ends.
This book is aimed at an adult, first language audience so you can take from that what you will. It is, however, worth the effort even if you have to read it in your right hand with a dictionary permantly in your left.
New detective novel by new Aberystwyth author. I haven’t found a translation of the announcement but you may be able to gather that it is a detective novel in the Scandi-noir tradition adding to Aber’s reputation as a hot-bed of crime - but we all knew that anyway.
Title: Ar Drywydd Llofrudd / “On the Ride of an Assassin ??”
Author:: Alun Davies
I should probably be starting of with books for learners and the like, but like the first book I ever read as an adult (as opposed to being forced to read mice and men over and over in class at school), I’ll probably try the deep end. Are there any fantasy writers that I can look up? I am a fan of Robert Jordan, Bran Sanderson, Robin Hobb, and of course Tolkien. Anything like that yn Cymraeg?
Would tips on where to find/buy books be appropriate here?
On-line and also in Wales (maybe in UK too?) for the times we decide to take a trip there. 
Amazon UK certainly sell some of them. The Bethan Gwanas and Lois Arnold books, among others, are on Amazon. There’s also Gomer https://www.gomer.co.uk/ and Y Lolfa https://www.ylolfa.com/en.
Gwales.com, the on-line bookshop of the Welsh Books Council, should be able to provide pretty much every Welsh book in print (and for every purchase they’ll make a contribution to a Welsh bookshop which you can nominate 
)
Also if you ever happen to be in Caernarfon, Palas Print is excellent
Have to agree with approval of Lois Arnold books. I have ‘e-ffindiau’ and ‘ffenestri’ and am enjoying both. She shows real understanding of the effort needed by Welsh learners to read Welsh. I’m an enthusiastic SSIW 6 month learner and fully appreciate the emphasis in that marvellous course on spoken Welsh, but wanted to be able to read as well. L.A. is perfect for me.
Oh, that’s fantastic news! I’ve been waiting for it for almost 10 months!
I don’t know the release date but the cover is ready. 
Excellent - this looks really intriguing!
Remember that this will be, as it says on the back cover, “yr ail yn nhrioleg y Melanai” (the second of the Melanai trilogy) with “Efa” being the first.
(Link to @seren’s review of Efa … The SSiW Welsh Book Club 📖 📚 👓 )
According to the UK Amazon the paperback is already available. Oh, lucky, lucky people in the UK:)
It’s available to pre-order at the moment but not published till 14th October 2018.
Hey everyone,
As an add on to this topic, I’m curious to learn how you are reading these books?
Are you:
Does anyone know if there is something similar to the Kindle Lending Library available for us Welsh speakers to “borrow” books that way?
Thanks!
