I'm not completely sure where I'm going with this, or what I want to achieve, or what I think should happen, but I'm sufficiently annoyed by some of the books for Welsh learners that I've read so far that I want to put my thoughts down.
I've read only a few of the books available for learners of Welsh, so there may be lots of other, much better books, and yes, they are a massive improvement on books that were available in the past - so that is a positive thing.
However, I am an educated person, and some of what I've read seems to have been addressed more at children than at adults. There are inconsistencies in the plots (read 'massive plot-holes'), there are things that just wouldn't happen. Yes, we should suspend disbelief, and yes, the whole point of the story is that it is helping us with our Welsh, not to be great literature. However, if I've got a niggling thought at the back of my head while I'm reading then I enjoy the story less, and if we want people to do something, then it is a good idea to make it enjoyable to them.
WARNING - PLOT SPOILERS.
What I've read so far:
Ffenestri (Lois Arnold) - I read this a while back, but on the whole, an enjoyable read. Short stories and poems. The level of difficulty increases through the book, which is useful, but for Canolradd (Intermediate) which is the level that I am reading at now, then there is limited material. However, I'd recommend this one, especially for lower level readers. (150+ pages, + vocab).
E-Ffrindiau (Lois Arnold) - actually, a story that I could follow. No really daft ideas, things that could happen. Not perhaps the most rivetting read, because it is about ordinary people doing ordinary things, but I'd recommend this one. (180+ pages, + vocab).
Sgŵp (Lois Arnold) - a proper novel. A slightly contrived story, but I could suspend disbelief on that. The illustration on the back of the book doesn't help, making it look like a kid's book (200+ pages, + vocab).
Having written this, I realise that so far the Lois Arnold books have been among the most enjoyable that I have read, so perhaps I should go and look for some more.
Bywyd Blodwen Jones (Bethan Gwanas) - the character is a Welsh version of Bridget Jones. Yes, funny in places, but I always thought that Bridget Jones needed a smack and to be told to get her life in order. Blodwen Jones is no different. However, I could get into these stories - mostly. (75+ pages, grammar notes, vocab on pages).
Gwendolin Pari P.I. (Meleri Wyn James) - highly irritating cover, like a teen novel. My (adult) son picked it up and asked me what on Earth I was reading. I thought that I wasn't having any difficulties with reading this, but I'm starting to wonder if my problems were just that I really didn't understand the Welsh well enough - or perhaps the whole thing was as inconsistent as I thought. What was the thing with the noise in the night at the hotel and the disappearing corpse?
Why was an 80 year old woman leading her around a dark wood for miles in the middle of the night? Why was it when her grandmother disappeared and she rang the police (who Granny had already upset over the disappearing corpse) did the police say "she's probably gone shopping in M & S"? An 80 year old woman who had demonstrated to the police on the previous day that she was confused? Why did Gwendoline take the officer at his word and go to see if she really was in M & S? At this point I was close to throwing the novel at the wall.
Where was the mysterious waiter 'John'? Was he really murdered, was he "on holiday abroad - for some time" as the hotel owner said? Why when Granny finally appeared again was there no explanation of where she had been other than "I've found John", and solved the whole mystery. Surely inheritance law would suggest that some of the things that seemed to be being suggested at the end are just nonsense? Or was I so fed up by this point that I really wasn't concentrating hard?
And the necklace, a very valuable necklace, and she didn't notice that something that was that valuable was around her neck? Oh, and the disappearing corpse? Well, that was real.
(90+ pages, grammar notes, vocab on pages). Not something that I'm going to read again. I read it, I learned a few words.
Gêm Beryglus (Richard MacAndrew) - quite enjoyed this one, tense, bloody. A slightly cod psychology reasons for the motivation of the protagonist at the end, but the police were believeable, as was the slow careful tracking down of the murderer. (90+ pages, + vocab). A good one for intermediate learners.
Blodwen Jones a'r aderyn prin (Bethan Gwanas) - yes, funny in places. Blodwen Jones is still smackable, but why, why, why did she think that when her colleague collapsed that the best thing to do was for her to drive the van back to the library? She should have called an ambulance, but to drive a large van, for which she was not insured, and hadn't been given training for, over miles of narrow Welsh roads? It doesn't happen. Nor does the 'perfect person on the doorstep' happen - and I have seen that trope again since reading this book. (85 pages, grammar notes, vocab on pages). Once again, readable.
Y Llythr (Helen Naylor) - a step back to coal mining in the 1940s, and the lives of the protagonists 50 years later. I can remember my grandmother talking about how the pits were so much part of the lives of the villages, and the fear that struck into families when there was an accident in the pit was very real. But... the letter actually finding it's destination 50 years after someone left? Hmm. Possibly, as he was supposed to have become famous. But... the romance at the end of the book, it felt so rushed, as if the author was running out of pages and had to just say "and they all lived happily ever after - the END". (75+ pages, + vocab). OK. I quite liked the characters, and I could relate to their feelings and needs.
So, what have I learned from this blog post? Well, I've discovered that I already own the only Lois Arnold learners books that seem to have been published (including the short stories: Cysgod yn y Coed).
What should we expect from learners' novels - how much should we suspend disbelief? They are after all a means to an end, to become a fluent enough reader to be able to read proper, adult novels in Welsh. Why am I reading these, instead of diving into more difficult books with dictionary? Well, because I find that I lose the track of the story if I have to look up every second word, or if I have to read a sentence three times before I give up and go on to the next one. This is a means to an end, but I'm starting to wonder if I should give some of the Uwch (Advanced) books a go, to see if they are a bit more to my taste.
Or, perhaps time to dig out my collection of Lingo Newydd again?
