books
Some books I read in 2022
Covid may have loosened its grip, but its ‘stay home’ message has lingered, so just as many books got read in 2022 as in the previous year. I’ve been steered to some of them by research needs, but that hasn’t reduced the enjoyment. Here are some of my favourites. The list doesn’t include any charity […]
Jim Crace’s angels
It might seem that everything that can be said about angels has already been said. But Jim Crace, in his latest novel, eden, gives them a new look, and a new, sinister identity. In his eden (not Eden, you’ll notice) Adam and Eve were expelled some time ago (‘what fools they were to sacrifice their […]
E.M. Forster invents the iPad
Years ago my friend C and I challenged each other to read, all the way through, a Classic Long Book. My challenge was Moby-Dick, and his was Bleak House. Whether C ever reached Melville’s majestic final line, ‘… and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago’, I […]
‘Rhyngom’ gan Sioned Erin Hughes
Pan enillodd Sioned Erin Hughes y Fedal Ryddiaith yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Tregaron ym mis Awst am ei chasgliad o straeon byrion Rhyngom, roedd yr ymateb gan ddarllenwyr yn gynnes ac yn frwd. A dim syndod, achos bod y llyfr yn dod â llais newydd, hollol ffres a chyffrous i ffuglen Gymraeg gyfoes. Teitl cywir a […]
Tlodi, nawr a ddoe
Beth yw tlodi? Am flynyddoedd bellach fe’i diffinnir yn y wlad hon fel ‘tlodi cymharol’. Hynny yw, dych chi’n dlawd os ydych chi’n derbyn incwm sy’n 60% yn is nag incwm cyfartal pobl eich cymuned. Dyw hi ddim yn syndod clywed fod tlodi o’r math hwn yn cynyddu ers blynyddoedd, wrth i anghyfartaledd godi, a […]
Trais yn y pentra
Yn gynnar yn Afal drwg Adda, hunangofiant Caradog Prichard, daw brawddeg sy’n codi ael y darllenydd: Hyd yma [canfod ei fam yn mynd yn ffwndrus] yr oeddwn yn eofn a hunan hyderus, yn ymladdwr ffyrnig ac wedi ennill enw fel tipyn o fwli yn yr ysgol ac ymhlith hogiau’r ardal. Yn ôl pob sôn, cymeriad […]
In praise of bookmarks
If you’re like me, at any given time you’ll have several half-read books lying about, probably in different parts of your house or flat. Each book will have a place-holder inserted to remind you where to resume reading. Unless you’re one of those people who turn down the edges of pages to keep their place […]
A short letter to Priti Patel
Dear Priti Patel I’m writing to you with a simple request: to search your conscience. Just to avoid doubt, I don’t mean your political calculus. You don’t need any encouragement to exercise that. No, I mean your personal moral conscience. As the UK Home Secretary and a senior member of the UK government you’re responsible […]
Cefn Bryn and the writers
The sandsone ridge of Cefn Bryn is an obvious magnet for painters, but it doesn’t seem to have drawn many creative writers, despite its brooding presence along the backbone of the Gower peninsula. One exception is Amy Dillwyn, the pioneering industrialist, feminist and lesbian, in her best-known work The Rebecca rioter (1880), an historical novel […]
Be welwch chi o gopa Cader?
Llynedd, am y tro cyntaf ers blynyddoedd, methais i ddringo i gopa Cadair Idris. Sa i’n gwbod pam. Covid a’i ofidiau, siŵr o fod, neu absenoldeb meddwl, neu ohirio oherwydd pwysau eraill. Ond, o edrych yn ôl, dwi’n teimlo rhyw fwlch bach yn fy mywyd, rhyw rwyg yn yr edafedd o lwybro rheolaidd ar y […]
