Angharad Reviews.... The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall and Isabelle Arsenault

 

The charm and importance of honeybees is celebrated in this vibrant and lyrical picture book. Beginning in a meadow on a balmy summer’s day, we follow a forager bee as it zooms from flower to flower, collecting nectar. The more flowers the bee visits the heavier its legs weigh with pollen, maybe it’s time to buzz back to the hive? The forager shows his hive-mates the way to the meadow with a special bee dance, while the worker bees make and store honey in extensive combs. As the days become shorter and the winds become cooler, the queen and her hive slow their work and rest, dormant. In spring the colony will stir again, awakening ready for another hardworking summer. 

With award-winning illustrator Isabelle Arsenault’s warm and enchanting artwork and acclaimed author Kirsten Hall’s lively and informative text, this is a sweet-as-honey picture book that can be enjoyed by everyone. A wonderful introduction for young readers to the ‘beehaviour’ (sorry, couldn’t resist) of bee colonies, their role in pollination and how the seasons affect nature.  

Angharad reviews...‘Waste Tide’ by Chen Qiufan

 

Here's library staff member Angharad with a review of ‘Waste Tide’ by Chen Qiufan.

Dyma Angharad gyda'i barn am ‘Waste Tide’ by Chen Qiufan.

 

Waste Tide is a tech-heavy eco-thriller with thoughtful prose and plenty of classic cyberpunk elements woven into original scenarios. Set on fictional Silicon Isle, the global capital for electronic waste recycling located off China’s south-eastern coast, Waste Tide paints a realistically bleak vision of our world drowning in the waste and pollution of our own making, and the unfortunate sectors of society whose lives are limited and consumed by it.

Told from four perspectives, we experience what life is like for the various castes inhabiting Silicon Isle; the divisions, inequity and personal struggles that dictate their existence. We follow waste girl Mimi through the e-trash to a surprising discovery; American Scott Brandle of Terragreen Recycling and his Chinese-American interpreter Chen Kaizong as they attempt to reach a deal for the company; and Luo Jincheng, head of one of Silicon Isle’s clans, as he ruthlessly clings to power. As workers, corporations and clans collide, a dark, futuristic virus is unleashed on the island. War erupts between rich and poor; tradition and ambition, and humanity’s future ultimately hangs in the balance.

Lots of issues are explored in Waste Tide, from environmental destruction and the evils of elitism to toxic traditions and social injustices, but these heavier messages are served with equal helpings of entertaining and imaginative descriptions of future tech and cultural quirks. Both the plot and setting of Waste Tide sail close enough to reality for us to imagine it’s the story of our dystopian future, but although the premise is depressingly plausible, the narrative isn’t completely devoid of joy. Despite the tragic nature of the tale, it has the right balance of calamity and miracle, despair and hope. There’s some escapism to be had, brighter horizons to be found and even some humorous moments. I loved that prominent figures from history played interesting and unexpected roles, and found the few classic sci-fi pop-culture references endearing. Fans of the likes of Ghost in the Shell and other East-Asian sci-fi offerings will find plenty to interest them here.

David Mitchell's quote on the cover says it best- '...an accomplished eco-techno-thriller with heart and soul as well as brain.'

The Costa Book Awards 2020

 

This annual prize has five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book – with one of the five winning books selected as the overall Costa Book of the year (to be announced on the 26th January).

Here are the five category winners, which one will win this year’s grand prize?

Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud

Brave and brilliant, steeped in affection, Love After Love asks us to consider what happens at the very brink of human forgiveness, and offers hope to anyone who has loved and lost and has yet to find their way back.

The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story by Monique Roffey

April 1976: St Constance, a tiny Caribbean village on the island of Black Conch, at the start of the rainy season. A fisherman sings to himself in his pirogue, waiting for a catch – but attracts a sea-dweller he doesn’t expect.

The Louder I Will Sing by Lee Lawrence 

The Louder I Will Sing is a powerful, compelling and uplifting memoir about growing up in modern Britain as a young Black man. It's a story both of people and politics, of the underlying racism beneath many of our most important institutions, but also the positive power that hope, faith and love can bring in response.

The Historians by Eavan Boland

A forceful and moving final volume from one of the most masterful poets of the twentieth century. These extraordinary, intimate narratives cling to the future through memory, anger, and love in ways that rebuke the official record we call history.

Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant

In the aftermath of World War One, everyone is trying to rebuild their lives. Buffeted by storms, chased by the police, Lotti, Ben, Clara and a growing number of dogs set out on an epic journey, on the search for lost loved ones and a place to call home.

 

Mae gan y wobr flynyddol hon bum categori – Nofel Gyntaf, Nofel, Bywgraffiad, Barddoniaeth a Llyfr Plant – gydag un o’r llyfrau buddugol yn cael ei ddewis fel Llyfr y Flwyddyn Costa (i’w gyhoeddi ar 26ain Ionawr).

Dyma’r pump buddugol yn y categorïau. Pa un a fydd yn ennill y wobr fawr eleni?

Love After Love gan Ingrid Persaud

Dewr a rhagorol, yn llawn hoffter. Mae Love After Love yn gofyn i ni ystyried beth sy’n digwydd ar ymyl dibyn maddeuant dynol, ac yn cynnig gobaith i unrhyw un sydd wedi caru a cholli ac sydd eto i ganfod eu ffordd yn ôl.

The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story gan Monique Roffey

Ebrill 1976: St Constance, pentref bechan ar ynys Black Conch yn y Caribî, ar ddechrau tymor y glaw. Mae pysgotwr yn canu iddo’i hyn yn ei pirogue, wrth aros i ddal rhywbeth – ond mae’n denu preswylydd y môr nad yw’n ei ddisgwyl.

The Louder I Will Sing gan Lee Lawrence 

Mae The Louder I Will Sing yn gofiant grymus sy’n codi calon am dyfu i fyny yn y Brydain fodern fel gŵr ifanc Du. Mae’n stori am bobl a gwleidyddiaeth, o’r hiliaeth sylfaenol islaw llawer o’n sefydliadau pwysicaf, ond mae hefyd yn adrodd am y pŵer cadarnhaol y gall gobaith, ffydd a chariad eu cynnig mewn ymateb.

The Historians gan Eavan Boland

Cyfrol olaf rymus gan un o feirdd gorau’r ugeinfed ganrif. Mae’r adroddiadau hynod, agos atoch yma yn gafael yn y dyfodol drwy atgofion, dicter a chariad mewn ffyrdd sy’n gwrthod y cofnod swyddogol rydym yn ei alw’n hanes.

Voyage of the Sparrowhawk gan Natasha Farrant

Ar ôl y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf, mae pawb yn ceisio ailadeiladu eu bywydau. Gyda thymhestloedd yn eu taro, a’r heddlu ar eu hôl, mae Lotti, Ben, Clara a nifer cynyddol o gŵn yn cychwyn ar daith fawr, i chwilio am anwyliaid a gollwyd a rhywle i’w alw’n gartref.

 

Merry Christmas / Nadolig Llawen!

The 2020 Booker Prize

 

Thursday 19 November will see this year’s winner of the 2020 Booker prize announced from a shortlist of six titles, all of which are very much worth a read.  Let’s find out more about them:

The New Wilderness by Dianne Cook - A daring and imaginative debut novel that explores a moving mother-daughter relationship in a world ravaged by climate change and overpopulation, a suspenseful second book from the author of the acclaimed story collection, Man V. Nature.

This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga - In This Mournable Body, Dangarembga returns to the protagonist of her acclaimed first novel, Nervous Conditions, to examine how the hope and potential of a young girl and a fledgling nation can sour over time and become a bitter and floundering struggle for survival.

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi - This is both a love story and a story about betrayal between mother and daughter. Sharp as a blade and laced with caustic wit, Doshi tests the limits of what we can know for certain about those we are closest to, and by extension, about ourselves.

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste - Set during Mussolini's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, The Shadow King takes us back to the first real conflict of World War II, casting light on the women soldiers who were left out of the historical record. A heartrending exploration of what it means to be a woman at war.

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart - Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh "Shuggie" Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city's notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings.

Real Life by Brandon Taylor - A novel of startling intimacy, violence, and mercy among friends in a Midwestern university town. The author asks if it's ever really possible to overcome our private wounds and buried histories—and at what cost.

Ar ddydd Iau 19 Tachwedd bydd enillydd gwobr Booker eleni’n cael eu cyhoeddi o restr fer o chwech o deitlau, pob un yn werth ei ddarllen. Gadewch i ni ddysgu mwy amdanyn nhw:

The New Wilderness gan Dianne Cook – Nofel gyntaf feiddgar a chreadigol sy’n edrych ar berthynas deimladwy mam a merch mewn byd wedi ei anrheithio gan newid yn yr hinsawdd a gorboblogaeth, ail lyfr afaelgar gan awdur y casgliad o storiâu, Man V. Nature.

This Mournable Body gan Tsitsi Dangarembga - Yn This Mournable Body mae Dangarembga yn dychwelyd at arwr ei nofel gyntaf gymeradwy, Nervous Conditions, i edrych  ar sut mae gobaith a photensial merch ifanc a chenedl newydd yn gallu suro dros amser a throi’n ymdrech chwerw a di-drefn i oroesi.

Burnt Sugar gan Avni Doshi - Dyma stori serch a stori am frad rhwng mam a merch. Yn finiog fel cyllell ac yn llawn ffraethineb pigog, mae Doshi’n gwthio ffiniau’r hyn y gallwn wybod i sicrwydd am y rheiny sydd agosaf atom ni a, thrwy hynny, amdanon ni’n hunain.

The Shadow King gan Maaza Mengiste - Wedi ei osod yn ystod cyrch Mussolini yn Ethiopia yn 1935, mae The Shadow King yn mynd â ni yn ôl at wrthdaro cyntaf yr Ail Ryfel Byd, gan daflu goleuni ar y milwyr o blith menywod a adawyd allan o’r cofnod hanesyddol.  Ystyriaeth ddirdynnol o beth yw ystyr bod yn fenyw ar adeg rhyfel.

Shuggie Bain gan Douglas Stuart - Stori fythgofiadwy yw Shuggie Bain am yr Hugh "Shuggie" Bain ifanc, bachgen hawddgar ac unig sy’n treulio’i blentyndod yn ystod yr 1980au mewn cartref adfeiliedig yn Glasgow, yr Alban. Mae polisïau Thatcher wedi achosi colli gwaith i ŵyr a meibion ac mae problem gyffuriau’r ddinas wrth law.

Real Life gan Brandon Taylor – Nofel o gyfathrach ryfeddol, trais a thrugaredd ymhlith ffrindiau  mewn tref prifysgol yng nghanolbarth gorllewinol yr Unol Daleithiau. Mae’r awdur yn gofyn a yw’n wir bosibl goresgyn ein creithiau preifat a’n hanes a gladdwyd – ac am ba gost.

Reading Well for Children Wales launches in October!

The Welsh Government are supporting The Reading Agency to deliver Reading Well in all 22 library authorities in Wales.

Reading Well for children will be the third Reading Well scheme to be delivered in Wales following on from Reading Well for dementia in 2018 and Reading Well for mental health in 2019.

Reading Well Books on Prescription for children provides helpful reading to support children’s mental health and wellbeing. The books provide quality-assured information, stories and advice. Books have been chosen and recommended by leading health professionals and co-produced with children and families

They are endorsed by health professionals and can all be found in your local library.

Overview of Books

Mae Llywodraeth Cymru yn cefnogi The Reading Agency i ddarparu Darllen yn Well ym mhob un o’r 22 awdurdod llyfrgell yng Nghymru.

Darllen yn Well i blant fydd y trydydd cynllun Darllen yn Well i gael ei ddarparu yng Nghymru yn dilyn ymlaen o gynllun Darllen yn Well ar gyfer dementia yn 2018 a Darllen yn Well ar gyfer iechyd meddwl yn 2019.

Darllen yn Well Llyfrau ar Bresgripsiwn i blant yn darparu darllen defnyddiol i gefnogi iechyd meddwl a lles plant. Mae’r llyfrau’n darparu gwybodaeth, straeon a chyngor gyda sicrwydd ansawdd. Mae llyfrau wedi cael eu dewis a’u hargymell gan weithwyr iechyd proffesiynol blaenllaw a’u cynhyrchu ar y cyd gyda phlant a theuluoedd

Fe’u cymeradwyir gan weithwyr iechyd proffesiynol a gellir dod o hyd iddynt yn y llyfrgell leol.

Darllen yn Well i blant Trosolwg o’r teitlau

 

Online Book Group Wales - Join today!

 

Are you missing your usual reading group? Join Online Book Group Wales by visiting the 'Welsh Libraries' page on Facebook.

Each month, titles will be chosen by popular vote. Titles will become available as eBook or/and eAudio through our Borrowbox service, or you can join in with your own print copy. We will have a Welsh & English title available for discussion every month.

Here are this month's titles, chosen by the group.

 

We will prompt a 'half-way' discussion, followed by a final discussion at the end of each month. Join the Facebook group today!

https://libraries.wales/my-digital-library/borrowbox/

  

Y ydych yn gweld eisiau eich Grwp Darllen arferol? Ymunwch a Grwp Darllen Arlein Cymru drwy Facebook @Welsh Libraries.

Bob mis, byddwn yn dewis teitlau newydd drwy bleidlais. Bydd y teitlau ar gael fel eLyfr neu/ac eLyfr Llafar drwy ein gwasanaeth Borrowbox, neu gallwch ymuno efo’ch copi printiedig. Byddwn yn trafod un teitl Cymraeg ac un teitl Saesneg bob mis.

Dyma deitlau'r mis hwn, a ddewisywd gan y grwp. 

  

Byddwn yn annog trafodaeth ‘hanner ffordd’, a thrafodaeth olaf yn digwydd ar ddiwedd y mis. Ymunwch a'r grwp Facebook heddiw!

https://llyfrgelloedd.cymru/my-digital-library/borrowbox/