I recently enjoyed reading the Blodwen Jones books - they’re entertaining enough (but also easy enough) to make you keep reading.
I’d prefer to stick with “learner” novels at the mo - I’ve looked at a couple of children’s books, but still find them a bit too hard.
At the moment I’m half way through eFfrindiau, but I’m not very motivated to finish it, mainly because I’m finding it rather boring. I’ll probably slog on for the sake of completeness, but would like to order a bit more of a page-turner to reward myself with next.
Could anyone recommend anything they’ve really enjoyed from the available learner books?
I’ve just started reading Deltanet which looks promising. It seems manageable language-wise and will hopefully have a reasonable story too:
A thriller novel for Welsh Learners set in the world of Information Technology, where the hero faces grave dangers as he strives to solve the secrets his employers keep hidden from their customers.
Also, although not strictly for learners, I’d recommend taking a look at the Stori Sydyn series too. There’s quite a few of them covering both fact and fiction in a number of different subjects. So far, I’ve only read one, but it was in simple, quite conversational Welsh and I managed it without any real problems. Definitely going to buy more of them.
Any of the books by Bob Eynon are good for learners. They are available in different genres - western, sci-fi, romantic, adventure and so forth, and have vocab lists in them. Look for titles such as Y Gwr o Pheonix, Y Blaned Ddur, Y Merch o Berlin, amongst others. I have about 6 of his books and enjoyed them. There is also a book of short stories called Eistedd ar Groen Ieti, which is fun.
I agree with Tricia, I think Modrybedd Afradlon (along with the Blodwen Jones trilogy) is the class of the Nofelau Nawr series. Here’s a page from SSIW wiki that collects short comments on lots of learner novels: SSIW wiki page on Fiction and Poetry
I have also been working though the Blodwen Jones books, and really like them. It’s nice that the character is also a learner, so there are good excuses for her to tell us what words for various things are, as she discovers them herself.
And I really like the format. I’m keen to try other books in the Novelau Nawr series.
