If you enjoy Eva I recommend that you order the next book in the trilogy straight away! Eva is a real cliff-hanger and will leave you in suspense and itching to find out what happens next! 
Iām pleased to say Iāve finished āYn y Gwaedā gan Geraint V. Jones. Pleased because itās over!
It won an award at the Eisteddfod and the reviews describe it as āgripping and readableā, but this particular learner really struggled.
From the blurb, "There was no welcome for anyone at Arllechwedd - that was the only way for the family to keep its secrets; and there were a lot to keep. Like the true relationship between Mam and Dewyrth Ifan, or the apparitions her daughter Mared saw, not to mention the nightmares that keep waking her son Robin at nightā¦ After all, thereās no smoke without fireā¦ . "
Linguistically not the easiest book Iāve read, set mostly on the family farm and therefore full of agricultural vocabulary. The family also use dialectal terms Iām not familiar with.
However my biggest problem was I didnāt like any of the characters, which made it hard to plough through the vocab hump at the start. One reviewer noted it would make a good horror movie, and thatās not my genre at all.
On the plus side, at 150 pages at least itās fairly short for adult fiction.
**Yn y Gwaed ** seems to be critically renowned so Iām sure some people will love it, but not my cup of tea.
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wwww, edrych yn ddoniol. Liciwn i ddarllen y llyfrau Bywyd Blodwen Jones ond does dim ail llaw yn Seland Newydd. A dim byd yn y llyfrgell yma.
Llechi - Manon Steffan Ros
Iāve just finished this 10 minutes ago so Iām still trying to process what I just read. O Mam Bach, what a book. I really enjoyed it from start to finish.
Translated from the back cover ā¦
Why would someone want to kill Gwenno Evans, and leave her body in the quarry covered in blood?
A raw, emotional story that follows Gwennoās crew of friends after her sudden murder at 16 years old. A number of secrets about Gwennoās life and family come to light, and lots of unexpected plots and turns that lead to her death.
The story is really good and keeps you involved right to the end, some of you may get where itās going before I did but, for me, it was perfectly paced and had me agog at all the right places. But ā¦ (this was edited the next morning after time for it to sink in) ā¦ a big part of this book for me was how we are all playing different roles, even very subtly different sometimes, depending on whom weāre with. Do we really know someone, do we really know the person they are or are we just seeing the person they want us to see? Very interesting. Itās narrated by Shane, one of Gwennoās friends. Thereās a lot to talk about but I canāt for fear of giving some of the plot away. Read it!
I always think that books for children and teenagers usually have the main characters about the same age as the target audience, in which case this would be aimed at 16 year olds. Some of the themes are a little disturbing and of a gruesome nature but nothing too bad.
I found this an easy read so would say anyone other than a very new reader wouldnāt have too much trouble here. Go for it.
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Diolch, Gruntius. Wedi prynu ar Kindle (Amazon US). Iām happy to see some Welsh language books can be bought on Kindle.
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Il coming into this discussion late. Is there a book or series a group are all taking on but then also notes from others? Are some doing a series by the same author? (Manon Steffan Ros) I see many by this author available on US kindle & a couple on Audible.
Hi @Rosemarie,
Itās not the sort of book club where members all read the same book and then discuss it. Nothing so organised. We just mention books that we have read. This may or may not encourage others to have a go. The books are at many different levels of difficulty. Most are books that people have enjoyed, some are not. If you have read anything that you think is worth a comment, then please go ahead and say what you thought of itā¦
Sue
Tyllau by Louis Sachar, translated by Ioan Kidd.
Stanley Yelnats is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. The whole family has been under a curse since great-great-grandfather failed to keep his promise to a witch back in the old country. When a pair of trainers lands at Stanleyās feet he picks then up, not realising that they have just been stolen from baseball player Sweetfeet. Stanley gets the blame and is sent to a punishment camp in a desert in Texas where venemous snakes and lizards are all around. The boys in the camp have to spend their days digging holes in the bed of a dried-up lake. Is this just a punishment, or does the sinister Warden have an ulterior motive?
The book is written for young adults and is full of details about the lives the boys lead in the desert. The villains are really nasty. Most of the time we are with Stanley, but there are flashbacks to the story of great-great-grandfather and also to the notorious outlaw āKissin Kateā Barlow. The book was not written for learners, but I found it quite straighforward and approachable, neither too formal nor in a difficult dialect.
Sue
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After a couple of weeks of quite heavy going thematically, I quite enjoyed Ac Yna Clywodd Sŵn y MĆ“r by Alun Jones.
Loosely translated from the blurb, āThis is one of the most readable novels to be published in Welsh. You could call it a detective novel, a love story, and the story of a community all rolled into one. Yes, thereās a young man accused of raping a young woman, and thereās also a flock of policemen trying to corner a jewellery thief, but we also meet a number of characters who could have grown directly out of the soil of Pen LlÅ·nā.
As a learner, the first line overstates it a bit in saying itās the most readable novel ever published. This was written in 1979 and is set in the middle of the twentieth century so the style and dialect are a bit old-fashioned. eg. āYr oeddā and āmaentā instead of āRoeddā and āMaeānā, and the characters use colloquial terms like āllarpadā, wwhichiI assume means something like ārascal, scoundrelā.
However āYr oeddā comes up so often you quickly cotton on, and you donāt need to know all the dialect to get the gist of the dialogue. And thematically I thought this was a nice, gentle mid-century crime novel. Ie although bad things happen or are recounted it didnāt pack the emotional wallop or have the bleakness of some of my recent reads. I just wanted to read on to find out what happens.
Definitely not a beginner read, but if youāve already started reading contemporary adult Welsh fiction then I recommend this to push you a bit linguistically and introduce you to a slightly older style of writing, while still being a really good tale.
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Llwch yn yr Haul - Marlyn Samuel
Ever since reading Cicioār Bwced Iāve been wanting to read another book by the same author and I havenāt been disappointed with this one. I really enjoyed reading this for a few reasons really, first it was full of humour, not laugh out loud funny but a lot of snorting, second it was a great story line, really interesting and kept me keen, and third it was set in Cyprus and I recognised all of the place names from stories of when we were there in '72/'73 (my dad was in the RAF).
Translated from the back cover ā¦
Itās impossible to keep a secret forever - the truth is bound to come out some day. Thatās what a family from Anglesey discover during a memorable visit to Cyprus. Under the islandās sweltering sun all the emotions that are boiling under the surface explode, and the weekās shocking events affect each one of their lives.
The same as I wrote for Cicioār Bwced ā¦ This is a grown-upās book so not an easy read like those aimed at teenagers or learners but I wouldnāt say it was difficult either. Marlyn uses straightforward, simple language thatās very accessible so I wouldnāt think it would be impossible even for beginners and certainly ok for intermediate readers.
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Next on the list, Y Dylluan Wen. The film of this is one of the GCSE set texts, and I was amused to see a comment on the cinema thread that it has some quite dark themes. It does, but the GCSE syllabus generally seems designed to discuss the deepest, darkest, nastiest parts of the human psyche, so standard fare really. 
I have mixed feelings about this book. It plays with the Blodeuwedd story from the Mabinogi to tell a contemporary tale, which I quite liked but which also left me feeling I was missing stuff or not quite getting references (I guess thatās why itās a GCSE text! ).
To be fair the bits that most confused me were the very short sections narrated by a white owl who is watching the main character, and addressing us as the reader. However I think they add to the story but arenāt critical for understanding the exact sequence of events.
I found the style quite lyrical in parts, which I really liked. Almost designed to be read aloud, with alliteration and rhythm in the language. That makes it sound difficult but not at all: the bits that struck me as lyrical were very short sentences with fairly simple language and lots of repetition. Itās also written as a series of short scenes, which I think made it fairly readable. Certainly less dense in narrative than some of the stuff Iāve been reading lately.
However I didnāt find the pacing or the ending very satisfying, so overall Iām not sure Iād recommend it. Definitely one for confident readers and maybe one to read in a book group, to help decipher some of the references.
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Twll Bach yn y Niwl - Llio Elain Maddocks
This is the first (and I think so far only) novel by this author and Iām really hoping it wonāt be the last. I got dragged into this one all too easily, itās a very appealing mix of addictive story, heavy themes and great humour.
Roughly translated from the back cover ā¦
āI know that itās been difficult for you stuck at home while Iāve been travelling the world. But I canāt just come home and live in a small house with you in Dolgarwyn, Lowri. I canāt save you from this boring life.ā
Lowriās in a hole. She canāt find work, has to cope with her mumās sickness, spending every night in the same pub with the same friends, and getting dumped. She soon learns that nobody is going to save her from this hole thatās growing bigger every day.
She has to save herself.
Written for adults, with adult themes, so expect adult vocabulary ā¦ whatever that means. Saying that I think itās written in a very easy style so not above anyoneās range.
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Clymau - Various
This is a book of short stories by 14 different authors. Jon Gower came up with the idea I think, each of these stories has a twist in the tail and reflects some aspect of the story before (and sometimes others in the book too).
I have to be honest, I wasnāt a fan. Some of the stories are really good but others not so good, for me anyway. A few even left me looking for another chapter to explain what the heck just happened. I even read the last page of the last story twice and even checked to see if there was a page missing somewhere!
Ah well, at least itās another book moved from the box under the bed to the bookshelf where all the books Iāve read live.
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I have had the same experience with other collections of short stories. I find that full length novels give me a better chance to understand what is going on, and it is less important if there are bits I donāt understand.
Sue
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This review is thanks to @Cetra who kindly passed on her copy of Celwydd Oll gan Sian Northey. The title translates as āAll Liesā.
I am also not a fan of short stories usually but I did quite enjoy these. The premise is that each story is inspired by something true. The inspiration could be something huge like a war, or as trivial as a comment in the notices section of a newspaper. Sian has then written a vignette related to that, perhaps in a different time period, a different place, or just imagining the back story or consequences of it. At the end of each chapter she reveals āThe truthā.
Thematically, the stories were often inspired by sad events, but the short story format stopped them being too intense, for me anyway.
The choice of vignettes was really interesting as well - I learned about events I didnāt know about and imagined perspectives I hadnāt thought about before, which is what fiction is about really. It was also really interesting to see where her inspiration came from.
I often find short stories harder to read than novels because by the time youāve worked out the key vocab and identified what theyāre about, itās over. However I thought the language here was fairly straightforward and of course she provides the context at the end so you can always go and reread once you know the topic.
Iād recommend it to anyone whoās accustomed to reading at Uwch or maybe Canolradd level if youāre happy to be stretched.
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I enjoyed reading Gangsters in y Glaw from the Amdani series of books for entry-level Welsh learners and wrote the following book review as an exercise. Hope itās helpful and apologies for the inevitable errors (updated with corrections 29th August 11pm).
Mwynheais i ddarllen āGangsters yn y Glawā gan Pegi Talfyn. Maeān un oār cyfres Amandani llyfrau i lefel Mynediad. Maeār stori aār cymeriadau yn ddiddorol a doniol iawn. Dyn niān dilyn y detectif preifat, Elsa Bowen, sydd yn ffeindio mas pam maeār cwsmeriaid rhyfedd yn ymweld aār siop llyfrau i brynu llyfrau fel Calon LĆ¢n. Sut gallu Elsa stopioār gansters ac yn arbed y siop lyfrau? Mae bob tudalen yn cael rhestri o eirfa anodd.
Dw iān darllen āBlacmĆŖlā nawr, hefyd gan Pegin Talfyn, ac hefyd am Elsa Bowen. Maeār llyfr 'ma yn hawdd iawn. Maeān llyfr cyntaf perffaith. Dylen dysgwyr darllen āGangsters yn y Glawā ar ol āBlacmĆŖlā.
Dw iān darllen llyfr arall hefyd, āO Gaerfyrddin i Go Compareā. Maeān anoddach ond yn ddiddorol iawn. Maeār llyfr 'ma yn am y canwr opera, Wynne Evans, yn y hysbysebion Go Compare. Dw iān meddwl bod y llyfr 'ma yn iawn i ddysgwyr Mynediad a Sylfaen, ond yn anodd fel llyfr cyntaf.
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And another review courtesy of @Cetra! Thank you!
Lwyth by Bethan Gwanas.
This is aimed at 11-14 year olds so was a nice easy read. Fantasy is my favourite genre so I really enjoyed the opportunity read some in Welsh. Iād say itās definitely aimed at the younger end of the scale, so not a very complex story and the language was pretty straightforward.
If you happy reading at Canolradd level why not give it a go? There will be vocab to learn about swords and spears, but all very guessable if youāve ever watched any fantasy on TV.
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I am reading āFel Aderynā by Manon Steffan Ros. She is one of my favourite authors and this was her first book for adults.
It is the story of six generations of mothers and daughters who lived in Tywyn, told in brief interludes swapping between times and protagonists in a way that I found rather confusing at first. Luckily a family tree is provided at the front, and I made frequent use of it to check what was going on. These women have plenty of trouble. Nearing the end, I am hoping that the latest generation will have a better time, and I am wondering whether family secrets will be revealed, or whether they will go to the grave with the people who know them.
I am enjoying this book and understanding enough of it without going to the dictionary. I find the language quite straighforward, not too formal and not full of difficult dialect. I would recommend it for anyone who is venturing beyond books written for learners.
Sue
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I was up much too late last night reading āFel Aderynā. Oh my, what a book! The complexity that bothered me at first proved to be essential. The story would not have been anything like as powerful if told chronologically.
I had forgotten that this book had already been reviewed by @gruntius back in January. Sorry! I would have mentioned it before if I had remembered. I agree that the chapters about the abusive marriage are difficult to read, but they are all too true. The incident is uncomfortably similar to the account of a coronerās inquest that my daughter found when researching a family tree for her in-laws. She can never, never, tell them what she found because it is too painful and close to home. Some family secrets are perhaps better kept secret. Family History is my hobby, but you have to be careful of what you might find. Minaās daughter had better take up other interests when she gets older and leave the family alone. As for DNA testingā¦ I didnāt mind the loose ends in the book. Life is full of loose ends and I thought that they added to the poignancy. I am still reeling. I did not expect the last secret, through it was in plain sight all the time if I had looked.
Sue (again)
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Tu Ć“l iār Awyr - Megan Angharad Hunter
On the front cover it says ā¦ āY nofel orau, fwyaf pwerus i mi ei darllen ers blynyddoedd. Maeān ysgytwolā - Manon Steffan Ros.
And on the back (roughly translated) ā¦ āItās more than a novel - itās a completely new literary experience and it fills your head. Raw, warm, full of hard blows and soft touches, every page is an emotional experience.ā - Manon Steffan Ros.
āAnest and Deian are in the 6th form when they meet, and both of their worlds change for ever.ā
āA funny and heartbreaking novel that offers a shocking glance at young adult lives that hasnāt been seen in print in Welsh before.ā
I think Iāll be feeling the effects of this book for some time to come. All the cliches are true for this one, a real page turner, I couldnāt put it down, etc, etc. I would rate this a solid 10, Iām not surprised it won Welsh Fictional Book of the Year this year, itās incredible.
A surprisingly easy book to read as far as the language is concerned, but it does come with a warning on the cover that the content may cause distress to some readers.
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