Summer has arrived in Wales and my mind has turned to the books
on my list of summer reading. Making a summer reading list is a habit that dates back to my school days when I would compile a list of books to read over the long summer holiday and it’s one that I still haven’t shaken off in my adult life. Perhaps it’s the longer evenings, but I do find that I tend to make time to read more easily in the summer months.
So this year I have compiled a list of books designed to offer me adventure, history, romance and politics and unsurprisingly it includes a number of books by Welsh authors.
Top of my list is the Prince’s Pen by Horatio Clare. I’ve been working my way through Seren’s wonderful series of books retelling the stories from the Mabinogion, but for some reason this one has eluded me thus
far. The cover promises me a tale of politics, faith and the modern world set against a backdrop of myth and mystery. I’m already hooked, although I suspect it will take a lot to beat my favourite in the series so far, Gwyneth Lewis’ fantastic fantasy tale The Meat Tree which had me fascinated, enthralled and repulsed in equal measure from the opening page.
Next up on my list is Nigel Jarrett’s collection of short stories Funderland which is available to download on Kindle for just over £4 at the moment. The collection contains the story which won Jarret the Rhys Davies Short Story prize and hints at vivid characters and an intriguing web of places and relationships.
If the summer evenings seem to whisper of poetry there’s plenty on offer at the moment, I am drawn to Lightening
Beneath the Sea, the first collection of English poems by Grahame Davies. Already a prize-winning Welsh language author and poet, Davies’ new collections has received plenty of acclaim so far and with its unusual title it’s hard not
to be drawn to this beautiful looking collection. At the other end of the spectrum, Damian Walford Davies’ collection Witch offers what Seren describes as ‘a thrilling portrait of a Suffolk village in the throes of the witchcraft hunts of
the mid-seventeenth century’. Witch sounds like the perfect blend of history, passion and adventure, written in a
typically unique style.
That’s just for starters, if time is favourable there are plenty more books I would love to devour throughout the summer. As always with reading, suggestions are welcome and I will report back on how the list progresses, part
of the joy of a good book is passing the secret on to others so you can share it together.
on my list of summer reading. Making a summer reading list is a habit that dates back to my school days when I would compile a list of books to read over the long summer holiday and it’s one that I still haven’t shaken off in my adult life. Perhaps it’s the longer evenings, but I do find that I tend to make time to read more easily in the summer months.
So this year I have compiled a list of books designed to offer me adventure, history, romance and politics and unsurprisingly it includes a number of books by Welsh authors.
Top of my list is the Prince’s Pen by Horatio Clare. I’ve been working my way through Seren’s wonderful series of books retelling the stories from the Mabinogion, but for some reason this one has eluded me thus
far. The cover promises me a tale of politics, faith and the modern world set against a backdrop of myth and mystery. I’m already hooked, although I suspect it will take a lot to beat my favourite in the series so far, Gwyneth Lewis’ fantastic fantasy tale The Meat Tree which had me fascinated, enthralled and repulsed in equal measure from the opening page.
Next up on my list is Nigel Jarrett’s collection of short stories Funderland which is available to download on Kindle for just over £4 at the moment. The collection contains the story which won Jarret the Rhys Davies Short Story prize and hints at vivid characters and an intriguing web of places and relationships.
If the summer evenings seem to whisper of poetry there’s plenty on offer at the moment, I am drawn to Lightening
Beneath the Sea, the first collection of English poems by Grahame Davies. Already a prize-winning Welsh language author and poet, Davies’ new collections has received plenty of acclaim so far and with its unusual title it’s hard not
to be drawn to this beautiful looking collection. At the other end of the spectrum, Damian Walford Davies’ collection Witch offers what Seren describes as ‘a thrilling portrait of a Suffolk village in the throes of the witchcraft hunts of
the mid-seventeenth century’. Witch sounds like the perfect blend of history, passion and adventure, written in a
typically unique style.
That’s just for starters, if time is favourable there are plenty more books I would love to devour throughout the summer. As always with reading, suggestions are welcome and I will report back on how the list progresses, part
of the joy of a good book is passing the secret on to others so you can share it together.