Our next desert
island castaway is Mark Tanner, Senior Librarian Pontypool and Blaenavon
Libraries. Here is his list of 6 books to while away the lonely hours.
Yasmina Khadra- The Attack
I only discovered this book this year,
although it has sold over 600,000 copies worldwide since its original
publication in French in 2005 and subsequent translation into English.
It’s set in Tel Aviv. Dr Amin Jaafie is an
Israeli Palestinian surgeon - integrated into Israeli society, and respected
and admired by his colleagues. But his life is turned upside down after a suicide bombing in a
restaurant leaves 19 dead, and the Israeli police inform him that his wife, who
is among the victims, was responsible….
This is storytelling at its most humane and
powerful best, and one day I intend to re-read it. In the meantime I will check
out the author’s other novels.
Graphic novel fans might be interested to know that
‘The Attack’ has just been published in that format- confirming that not all
comic books are about men who wear their underpants outside their trousers!
John
Steinbeck- The Grapes of Wrath
This
classic once banned book regularly appears in best books lists and needs little
introduction. An angry and passionate chronicle of the Great Depression
and the human experience of migrant farmers, it demonstrates the potential of
fiction to raise social awareness and consciousness. I read it many years ago
as an A level text, and I still regard it as a book everyone should read. Poverty,
desperation, injustice and hostility towards migrants remain relevant today,
and this is definitely a book that deserves revisiting.
Khaled Hosseini-A Thousand Splendid Suns
This is a powerful and compelling read. Set in
Afghanistan during a tumultuous period of history that encompasses the Soviet
occupation and the rise of the Taliban, this is the story of illegitimate
Mariam, sent away by her wealthy father at the age of 15 to marry a tyrannical
middle aged stranger.
Hosseini is an incredibly gifted
storyteller. The story he tells is emotive and frequently shocking, but
ultimately moving and uplifting. This is another book that stays with you long
after the final page is turned!
Sebastian
Faulks – Birdsong
I am
always moved by novels that depict the reality of life and death on the Western
Front. Fiction can be a more powerful medium in creating any kind of
understanding of the horrors of war than a history book, and Birdsong
will stay with you a long time.
In
part this is a passionate love story, but it is the descriptions of the mud and
blood of Flanders and the Somme that give the book its emotional impact
and status as a modern classic. I admit that when I first read this book
I was unaware of tunnel warfare underground.
During
the centenary of the Great War we need to be reminded of the terrible human
cost and suffering.
James
Lee Burke- The Tin Roof Blowdown
I
enjoy a well written crime novel and James Lee Burke transcends the genre. Few
crime writers write as well as James Lee Burke, or have the ability to take you
to another place populated with such well-drawn, strong, flawed human beings.
In this, the 16th Dave Robicheaux
novel, the shooting of two looters is investigated against the backdrop of the
devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.
As usual Burke delivers a powerful crime
thriller, but the descriptions of the drowning city and the author’s anger at
the government’s role in the crisis and its aftermath make this a truly great
novel.
I am aware that most of my choices are
unlikely to raise the spirits of a castaway, so I would need to pick something
that would cheer me up and remind me of home. I am about to start Bryson’s
recent follow up to this (The Road to Little Dribbling). However
I think I would choose this as I can still recall some descriptions that made
me laugh out loud twenty years ago.
I think re-reading this would make me smile, satisfy nostalgic
leanings, and remind me that things could be worse. I could be staying in a guesthouse in
Dover.
Llyfrau ar Ynys Bell 2
Yr un nesaf at yr ynys yw Mark Tanner, Uwch Llyfrgellydd
Llyfrgelloedd Pont-y-pŵl a Blaenafon. Dyma’i restr o 6 o lyfrau i gadw cwmni
iddo.
Yasmina
Khadra - The Attack
Dim
ond lynedd des i ar draws y llyfr hwn, er iddi werthu dros 600,000 o gopïau ar
draws y byd ers ei gyhoeddi yn Ffrangeg yn 2005 a’i gyfieithu wedyn i’r Saesneg.
Mae wedi ei leoli yn Tel Aviv. Mae Dr
Amin Jaafie yn llawfeddyg Israelaidd Palesteinaidd - wedi ei integreiddio i
gymdeithas Israelaidd, ac mae’n cael ei barchu a’i edmygu gan ei gydweithwyr.
Ond caiff ei fywyd ei wyrdroi ar ôl bomio mewn bwyty sy’n lladd 19, ac mae’r
heddlu yn dweud wrtho mai ei wraig, sydd ymhlith y rhai a fu farw, oedd yn
gyfrifol….
Dyma
ddawn dweud stori ar ei gorau ac rwy’n bwriadu darllen y stori eto rhyw
ddydd. Yn y cyfamser rwy’n bwriadu
darllen rhai o nofelau arall yr awdur.
Efallai
bydd gan ddilynwyr nofelau graffig ddiddordeb mewn gwybod bod ‘The Attack’ newydd
gael ei gyhoeddi yn y fformat hwnnw – cadarnhad nad yw pob llyfr comig yn
ymwneud â dynion sy’n gwisgo dillad isa’ y tu allan i’w trowsus!
John
Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath
Mae’r clasur yma a oedd wedi ei
wahardd ar un adeg yn aml yn y rhestrau o lyfrau gorau ac mae’n ddigon
cyfarwydd. Cofnod o’r Dirwasgiad Mawr a
phrofiadau ffermwyr ymfudol, mae’n dangos gallu ffuglen i godi ymwybyddiaeth
gymdeithasol. Fe’i darllenais sawl
blwyddyn yn ôl ar gyfer Lefel A ac rwy’n credu ei fod yn llyfr y dylai pawb
ddarllen. Mae tlodi, anobaith, anghyfiawnder a chasineb tuag at
fewnfudwyr yn berthnasol o hyd ac mae hwn yn llyfr sy’n werth ei ddarllen eto.
Khaled
Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid
Suns
Llyfr grymus ac anorchfygol. Wedi ei
leoli yn Afghanistan yn ystod cyfnod cythryblus yn ei hanes sy’n cynnwys y
goresgyniad Sofietaidd ac esgyniad y Taliban, dyma stori Mariam, merch a
ddanfonwyd gan ei thad yn 15 oed i briodi dyn dieithr canol-oed, gormesol.
Mae Hosseini
yn storïwr o fri. Mae’r stori sydd
ganddo yn emosiynol ac yn frawychus ond yn y pen draw yn gynhyrfus ac yn
ddyrchafol. Dyma lyfr arall sy’n aros yn
y cof ymhell ar ôl troi’r dudalen olaf!
Sebastian
Foulkes – Birdsong
Fe
fydda’ i bob amser yn cael fy nghyffwrdd gan nofelau sy’n dangos gwirionedd bywyd
a marwolaeth ar y Ffrynt y Gorllewin.
Gall ffuglen fod yn gyfrwng cryfach i greu unrhyw fath o ddealltwriaeth
o erchyllterau rhyfel nag unrhyw lyfr hanes a bydd Birdsong yn aros gyda
chi am amser hir.
Mae’n
rhannol yn stori serch, ond y disgrifiadau o fwd a gwaed Fflandrys a’r Somme
sy’n rhoi trawiadau emosiynol i’r llyfr ac yn cadarnhau ei statws fel clasur
modern. Rwy’n cyfaddef nad oeddwn i’n ymwybodol a rhyfela twneli tanddaearol
pan ddarllenais y llyfr yma gyntaf.
Yn
ystod canmlwyddiant y Rhyfel Mawr mae angen i ni gofio am y dioddefaint dynol
anferthol.
James
Lee Burke - The Tin Roof Blowdown
Rwy’n
mwynhau nofel drosedd dda ac mae James Lee Burke yn mynd y tu hwnt i’r genre. Ychydig iawn o awduron sy’n ysgrifennu
cystal â James Lee Burke, neu sy’n meddu ar y gallu i’ch cludo chi i le arall
gyda chymeriadau cryf a diffygiol.
Yn y
nofel yma, yr unfed ar bymtheg i gynnwys Dave Robicheaux, caiff saethu dau
ysbeiliwr ei ymchwilio iddi wedi dinistr Corwynt Katrina.
Fel
arfer nofel drosedd gyffrous gawn ni gan Burke, ond mae’r disgrifiadau o ddinas
yn boddi a dicter yr awdur tuag at ran y llywodraeth yn yr argyfwng yn creu
nofel wirioneddol wych.
Bill
Bryson - Notes
From A Small Island
Rwy’n
gwybod na fydd y rhan fwyaf o’m dewisiadau yn codi calon y darllenydd, felly fe
fyddai angen rhywbeth i godi gwên a’m hatgoffa o gartref. Rydw i ar fin dechrau dilyniant Bryson i’r
llyfr hwn (The Road to Little Dribbling). Serch hynny rwy’n credo mai hwn y buaswn i’n dewis gan fy mod i
dal yn cofio rhai disgrifiadau a wnaeth i mi chwerthin yn uchel ugain mlynedd
yn ôl.
Rwy’n credo y byddai
ail-ddarllen hwn yn gwneud i mi wenu, yn bodloni tueddiadau hiraeth, ac yn fy
atgoffa y gallai pethau fod yn waeth. Fe allwn i fod mewn gwesty yn Dover.