Books set in Wales

[niclas]

Of cousre! What more would you expect from a tanky historical overview! But thery still piss on everything ever written by any hampstead empty nester.

We Live and Cwmardy aren't subtle - sledgehammer socialist realism - but Lewis Jones was living the struggle in the 30s and brings that struggle to life in his novels.

Stump by Niall Griffiths is also good - another take of his "Scousers in Mid Wales" but still good.

 

[llantwit]

Second vote for he Cardiff Trilogy by John Williams.
Good dirty Cardiff Neo-noir thrillers with decent human characters, and some great gumshoe-style stories.
I think they hold up for non-Cardiffians, but you get more out of them if you're familiar with Cardiff, of course.

 

[bendeus]

Chatwin's 'On the Black Hill'? The fictional farmhouse straddles the border between Radnorshire and Herefordshire, thought the principal characters are Welsh.

Ace book

 

[Clint Iguana]

check out http://www.parthianbooks.co.uk loads of stuff on there (its a welsh publisher)

Try URBAN WELSH... a collection of short stories (from above publisher)

if you like cheap trashy pulp fiction go for A BLOODY GOOD FRIDAY skinheads rioting in merthyr and all that sort of thing.

if you are into music, check out 'Dial M For Merthyr' Rachel Trieze's biography of Midasuno..... the band dont come accross as particularly wild, but it is made up for by the quality of the writing. Rachel's FRESH APPLES is also quite good.

the ultimate rock biography has to be winos rhinos and lunatics, the story of welsh legends MAN, laugh a minute from start to finish... kids these days, dont know what rock and roll means!

i have to endorse what others have said, any thing by Nial Griffiths or the legendary Alexander Cordell

Oh, and someone recently bought me a copy of Merthyr Writing, not had chance to read it yet, but looks interesting

 

[davesgcr]

String of historical fiction books by Jack Jones "Rhondda Roundabout" being one .....(havent seen them for years though)

 

[isitme]

my country is shit by sillyhat shwpshyggggr

 

[llantwit]

my country is shit by sillyhat shwpshyggggr

twll dy din. /\

 

[bendeus]

my country is shit by sillyhat shwpshyggggr

0/10

 

[isitme]

this is my nervous breakdown not yours

 

[the button]

The Book of Jonah.

 

[isitme]

Anne Curry - The Humpback Years War

 

[the button]

Anne Curry - The Humpback Years War

I don't think I've heard of that one. Could you give a fuller cetacean?

 

[isitme]

no

 

[topaz]

I've recently been through a phase of reading books set in Wales:


Aberystwyth mon amour by Malcolm Pryce - really tried to like it, but failed miserably

i really liked this myself

 

[el_starkos]

These are good ....

Aberystwyth Mon Amour
Don't Cry For Me Aberystwyth
Last Tango in Aberystwyth
The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth

all by Malcolm Pryce. V funny.

 

[el_starkos]

This was good also ....

The Last Llanelli Train

 

[Brockway]

Swansea Terminal by Robert Lewis; and Submarine by Joe Dunthorne are excellent. Both novels are set in modern-day Swansea. The first is about a broken down, cancer-ridden, alcoholic PI who ends up having to guard a warehouse full of Harp lager. And the other is about a dysfunctional teenager who at one point attempts to assassinate his GF's dog in order to accustom her to grief.

 

[Trufflepig]

Grits..i think tis called by Niall Grithiffs is might fine and set all around Wales-features lots of crusties and drugs but the accents take a while to get used to reading..sort of like Trainspotting in the hills but with more varied collequaliasms to get your head around

And due special kudos for referring to my ex-landlord as "that cunt" - cos he was / is. Read and enjoyed every one by- "the Welsh Irvine Welsh, who is actually a Liverpudlian" a copy of sheepshagger should sit next to the Gideons bible in every Welsh b+b