The SSiW Welsh Book Club šŸ“– šŸ“š šŸ‘“

Happy World Book Day/Diwrnod y Llyfr everyone! To celebrate why not grab yourself a bargain?! Just Ā£2 each for any of these (plus postage) to make way for more books on my bookshelf! :books:
And donā€™t forget the lovely Cyw book for children thatā€™s available for Ā£1 in Wales! (Details here: World Book Day Wales)
Y Byw syā€™n cysgu, Llechi and Pryfeta have gone now, but the others are still available :slight_smile:

Hereā€™s a recommendation for the more advanced readers among you: this novel won Book of the Year 2022, and I really enjoyed it. Itā€™s a bit dark, but I kinda like that sort of thing :slight_smile:

Ffion Dafis is from the north-west of Wales so youā€™ll find a lot of the dialogue in that dialect (but not too much, I donā€™t think).

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Any indication of theme/style/scenario? ā€œA bit darkā€ sounds fine, NW-ish sounds fine, but is it a murder mystery, a supernatural thriller, slice-of-lifeā€¦? (I hope that doesnā€™t sound peremptory - I skimmed the reviews, but could only see how well people thought of it, and not what it was about!)

Just a reminder that the second of these online ā€˜Meet the Authorā€™ events is happening tonight. They only had about 5 people at the first one, which was disappointing for the organisers and author, but it does give you lots of opportunity to chat in Welsh!

ā€˜Chat with an authorā€™ online event for advanced learners

Iā€™ve read a review of this on Nation.Cymru (spoiler warning if you go looking for it, btw, it didnā€™t give away the ending but went into some depth about plot details etc) as I was also intrigued, but when it comes to dark themes I generally want a bit of forewarning myself.

It looks as if it focuses on ill mental health, death, and coping with trauma (in a modern setting, Facebook is mentioned). Reading the review, it reminded me a bit of The Girl On The Train especially in regards to the main character.

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Sorry for the late response to the question - Iā€™ve been in bed with the flu for a week! I can see that you have another answer below, which is pretty much on the nose. Those are the themes but itā€™s far more engaging and not as depressing as those make it sound :slight_smile: There are intriguing threads for the reader to follow / mysteries to be solved, and there are elements of humour also. Itā€™s more ā€œslice of lifeā€ than ā€œsupernatural fantasyā€. Hope that helps!

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Iā€™m pretty happy to hear this; Nation.Cymru did make it sound quite gritty. Iā€™m a few years off ā€˜big booksā€™, but Iā€™ll pick this up when Iā€™m more fluent!

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I bought the book ā€œRobā€ by Mared Lewis a while ago as it is marked as lefel Uwch but, now I am about to start on lefel uwch I canā€™t seem to find it listed in any of the course books. Does anyone happen to know where, in the recommended order, it appears, please? I know I could just read it anyyway but the books are usually listed after we have learned the relevant vocab.

Thanks

Does this help? :slight_smile: Cyfres Amdani | Dysgu Cymraeg

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It does, thanks Cetra. They seem to have added ā€œYn y tÅ· hwnā€, although not in the same place.

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Hereā€™s one that Blodwen Jones lovers will like - Un Noson by Llio Elain Maddocks:

Iā€™m early Sylfaen with a lot of time clocked in SSIW/Duo/attempting to read the news, and found this a bit above my level - thereā€™s no glossary, either. But, I had a dictionary and a notepad to hand and managed to finish this without stressing (which makes me wonder if I should try DeltaNet again).

It checks off a full rom-com bingo card, but itā€™s light-hearted enough for a learner whoā€™s still used to footnotes and Iā€™d recommend it fully. I loved the challenge of something a bit above my level, but not impossible either.

Dwiā€™n mynd ar wyliau ym mis Ebrill, prynais bedwar llyfr iā€™w darllen.

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Shwmae Alan. Gad i ni gwybod shwd maen mynd plis.

Sā€™mae John
Dan niā€™n yn Tenerif ar hyn o bryd.

Another ā€˜meet the authorā€™ Zoom event:

ā€˜Chat with an authorā€™ online event for advanced learners

HENO / TONIGHT - Siop yr Hen Bost, Blaenau Ffestiniog!

No description available.

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Simon Chandler runs an online Welsh book club, if anyone is interested. Itā€™s not for beginning learners though, more for accomplished Siaradwyr Newydd. If youā€™re on Facebook, you can reach him here:

Facebook - Simon Chandler

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Iā€™ve noticed this one hasnā€™t yet been mentioned in this topic - itā€™s part of the Cyfres yr Onnen series, so aimed at 9-14 year olds and not technically a learnersā€™ book. Donā€™t let that put you off though, itā€™s a lovely book and worth reading (I read it at the end of Sylfaen and only really struggled with some vocab).

Our main character in Sgrech y Mor is Sion, a grieving young lad in his early teens who regularly clashes with his stepfather. Mum sends Sion away for the summer holidays to live with ā€˜Anti Bethā€™, his late dadā€™s free-spirited spinster older sister and her boisterous dog Gel. Sion isnā€™t sure about his new situation in this small Welsh seaside village, only agreeing to go to make Mum happy, but he soon gets a whole lot more than he bargained for.

A few sad bits but overall heartwarming, and we could have all done with an Anti Beth figure in our teenage years, I think. I wrote a Goodreads review which goes a bit more in-depth (warning: there is one bit in there that Iā€™d consider a ā€˜true spoilerā€™ but I have filtered it) but I read this without any knowledge of where the plot would go. I think I enjoyed it all the more for that.

9781847717429

Doyou know if those plans to make everybook an audiobook happened? I cant find them and there arent any connected with my libraryā€™s borrow box either

if you follow the ffolio link https://ffolio.wales and put ā€œAmdaniā€ in the search, it brings up the series, and then scroll down a bit and you can choose EPUB, MP3 format or PDF from the filter list.
The search brings up 43 titles, but using each of the digital formats shows fewer, so it looks to me as if not all have been digitised, but you could enquire using the online contact form (press ā€˜helpā€™ in the top banner and then ā€˜contact usā€™ to get to the form).

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