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A Welsh Choral Spectacular by Dafydd Iwan
A Welsh Choral Spectacular by Dafydd Iwan
2012 | Classical
(0 Ratings)
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Yma O Hyd by Dafydd Iwan

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"If you’re a fan of one of the Welsh rugby regions, then you’ll know this song. At Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli, this is what they come out to, and it’s amazing. The lyric is about the Welsh language and how it has withstood the Romans and English culture, but you don’t actually need to know that to appreciate the song. If you play it and it’s raining outside you can feel its spectral power. Dafydd Iwan had a long career in politics with Plaid Cymru but he is also a folk singer. I first heard it about 10 years ago when I went to see Cardiff Blues play the Scarlets. They came on to this song and it just hit me somewhere between my heart and my brain – the perfect place for a song to hit you. I wish I knew how to bottle the feeling this song gives me."

Source
  
Book #2 in the WISE Enquiries Agency series

When Henry, a Welsh Duke, decides to be married, there are a myriad of traditions that he is expected to uphold. One such tradition involves Morris Dancers leading the happy couple through town from the church back to the family’s estate. After one of the dancers vanishes, the WISE Enquiry Agency is hired to look into the matter.

I really enjoyed the team of women doing the investigating in this story. Their distinct personalities work well together, as each has her own strengths to bring to the group. That and the Welsh countryside as the setting made this a very enjoyable read for me.

Visit <a href="https://booksthething.com/2016/11/02/the-case-of-the-missing-morris-dancer-guest-post-and-giveaway/">my blog</a> for a guest post from Cathy Ace explaining just what Morris Dancing is!

<i>I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy.</i>
  
AM
A Morbid Taste for Bones (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #1)
Ellis Peters | 1977 | Fiction & Poetry
4
6.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
The first of Ellis Peters Cadfael Chronicles mystery novels, which it is no next to impossible to read without imagining Derek Jacobi in the lead role.

For those not in the know, Cadfael is a medieval Welsh Benedictine Monk, who has come late to the Order in life, and who proves rather adept at solving various mysteries, as well as looking after his garden. In this one, the mystery to be solved is just who murdered the leader of the opposition to his Orders plans to relocate the bones of a local saint from the sleepy Welsh village in which she is buried to the confines of his own Order of St Peter and St Paul.

If I'm honest, I actually found this quite hard going: it never really gripped me all that much, nor made me want to read on. Perhaps this kind of novel is just not my cup of tea!
  
The Boys Volume 8:  Highland Laddie
The Boys Volume 8: Highland Laddie
Garth Ennis | 2011 | Comics & Graphic Novels
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
If Irvine Welsh wrote Oor Wullie
Highland Laddie sees Hughie leave The Boys and head home to his Maw and Paw for some peace and quiet. He soon finds that his home town has barely changed and the nostalgia wears off quite quickly.
It turns out Hughie was something of an amateur detective in his youth, and stopped a minor smuggling ring. He starts to uncover something again in this story, while also being unknowingly mentored over his troubles by a mysterious gentleman.
This story is hilarious, and like a cross between an Irvine Welsh/Chris Brookmyre book and an issue of Oor Wullie/The Beano. The old Scots angle (wee dugs, mince and tatties, everything being braw), combined with more modern Scottish ideas (inventive swearing and heroin) makes for a laugh-out-loud tale. We also see Hughie start to come to terms with the revelation from the previous volume, and consider rejoining The Boys.