The SSiW Welsh Book Club 📖 📚 👓

Wow, this is so useful @Davids - I’m saving this list and will be referring back to it! I know where any Christmas money I may get will be going :grin: just to clarify… You have listed the difficulty of llyfr glas Nebo and the Blodwen Jones books as both being 3… I have been holding off buying llyfr glas Nebo until I’m more proficient - would you say that I’m ready for it if i can read the Blodwen Jones books? Thank you!

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Yes, Emma! You’re ready! :slight_smile: Go for it! :slight_smile:

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:grin::grin::smiling_face_with_three_hearts: ooh thanks Cetra, that’s exciting, I’ve heard such great things about it. I’ll treat myself. The only things I’ve asked for for Christmas are Welsh language books :laughing:

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Glad if you find my list useful, Emma. I wouldn’t take too much notice of my difficulty ratings, partly because I didn’t necessarily read things in a sensible progressive order, so for example I read ‘Llyfr Glas Nebo’ only recently and had little trouble with it, whereas if I’d tackled it a year ago I might well have given it a 4. On the other hand I read ‘Chwalfa’ quite early on and struggled a bit (but I think even so that would still be a 5). But I will say that Manon Steffan Ross does seem to me a very lucid writer, as far as I can judge at my current stage.

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Wow, that is the most awesome list, diolch! If it’s any consultation, my reading remains surprisingly behind my listening. However I’ve had radio Cymru on in the background for a year but have only just started reading. So maybe lots of lazy not even trying listening will have the same effect as all the reading you’ve done. :smile:

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@Davids. Thanks, that’s a useful list. I haven’t read any Manon Steffan Ross books yet, but have just watched her on “Adre” and she came across as a fun person.

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I saw her on adre this week too, i loved her, a real individual x

Cicio’r Bwced - Marlyn Samuel

This was a very pleasing book to read, not full of laugh-out-loud funny bits but often very amusing, not loads of tear-jerking moments but often very moving. I found myself smiling while reading most of this novel. I loved it.

Translated from the back cover …
“After losing her husband Glyn, to a fatal heart attack, Menna is reclaiming her life.
With her friend Jan’s help she sees that it’s never too late to enjoy freedom, and love, for the first time.”

This is a grown-up’s book so not an easy read like those aimed at teenagers or learners but I wouldn’t say it was difficult either. Marlyn uses straightforward, simple language that’s very accessible so I wouldn’t think it would be impossible even for beginners and certainly ok for intermediate readers.

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Finished Fi a Mr Huws. Got a bit lost in places, so will probably read it again. I enjoyed it, but thought Lena was a bit of a drip! Also finished Ffenestri. I am a fan of short stories and enjoyed the mix. I also understood pretty much all of it, which was nice.

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@Davids
Many thanks for sharing your list of books.
May I recommend books by John Alwyn Griffiths.
Detective novels set in north wales.
He has a fair few out.
If you and others have enjoyed books by Manon and Bethan, I think you will enjoy the books :books: by John.

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@afl2 thanks for the recommendation, will certainly add to my ‘to read’ list. It looks as if he is indeed very prolific - are his books a series involving the same main character(s) and if so in what order should they be read? - I tried to find this out online but it doesn’t seem to be made obvious anywhere.

After poking around the websites of various boosellers, I suggest the following order.

1 - Dan yr Wyneb (2012)
2 - Dan Ddylanwad (2013)
3 - Dan Ewyn Y Don (2014)
4 - Dan Gwmwl Du (2015)
5 - Dan Amheuaeth (2016)
6 - Dan ei adain (2017)
7 - Dan Bwysau (2018)
8 - Dan Law’r Diafol (2019)
9 - Dan Fygythiad (2020)

I haven’t read any but might give them a go one day. At the moment I have far too many unread books.
Sue

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Thanks for that, duly noted. Like you my unread pile seems to grow faster than I can process it, so it’s definitely a ‘one day’…

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There’s no such thing as too many unread books Sue!!! :rofl:

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Thanks for putting the list up

Would anyone be interested in having the books below…fantastic for beginners. All I need is to cover P&P…

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I’d love them if noone else has taken up the offer. I haven’t read any of these as yet :slight_smile:

Thanks for the list, @Davids! I chose ‘O law i law’ despite your difficulty rating, and by accident, my secondhand copy was an abridged version. I was disappointed until I opened the first page, and read:

The book is stuffed with old verb forms, abbreviations, and northern words and expressions.

The text isn’t really abridged; it’s almost identical to the original, but with a lot of helpful notes at the bottom of each page, which enabled me to enjoy the book without using a dictionary. The abridger is Basil Davies, and the book is published by Gwasg Gomer.

This is my kind of book; not much happens, but you get a loving portrayal of the hard lives of the quarrymen and their families. It’s gone to the top of my favourites list along with ‘Blasu’!

Glad you enjoyed it, Bronwen. ‘Chwalfa’ is by the same author and set in the same world of quarrymen with their hard lives. It’s a good bit longer, and I imagine it would be worth getting a modern edition – I see one came out in 2016 – rather than the 1946 edition I picked up secondhand which has rather small print and nothing to help a learner. Says something about the book that it still had me hooked despite the difficulties.

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@Davids really useful, thank you!

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