Desert Island Books 2

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 16^th 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.

Bill Bryson - Notes From A Small Island

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.