Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Drawing on myth, folklore and history, the stories of the "Mabinogion" passed from generations of storytellers before they were written down in the thirteenth century in the form we know. Set in dual realms of the forests and valleys of Wales and the shadowy otherworld, the tales are permeated by a dreamlike atmosphere. In "Math Son of Mathonwy" two brothers plot to carry off the virginal Goewin, while in... (more)

The Chronicles of Prydain: Book 2

The Black Cauldron

by Lloyd Alexander

The Black Cauldron (Holt, 1965) is the second book in the five book series by Lloyd Alexander, and is a Newbery Honor Book. It continues the story of Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper of Prydain. Taran, with a band of warriors and friends, is called upon to find and destroy the Black Cauldron, which is being used by the evil Arawn, Lord of the Land of Death, to produce deathless warriors from the bodies of his... (more)

Trainspotting: Book 1

Trainspotting

by Irvine Welsh

For the first time in hardcover with the original jacket art: "The best book ever written by man or woman...deserves to sell more copies than the Bible."— Rebel, Inc. Trainspotting is the novel that first launched Irvine Welsh's spectacular career—an authentic, unrelenting, and strangely exhilarating episodic group portrait of blasted lives. It accomplished for its own time and place what Hubert Selby,... (more)

The Chronicles of Prydain: Book 3

The Castle of Llyr

by Lloyd Alexander

Following previous events, the theme of maturity continues. This chapter follows The Companions as they set out to discover Eilonwy's origins. It is soon discovered the blonde haired beauty is the last in a long line of Sorceresses. Achren, having survived the events of "The Book of Three" places her servant, Magg, into service within the royal house when she hears that the lost Princess of Llyr, the self same... (more)

The Chronicles of Prydain: Book 5

The High King

by Lloyd Alexander

The Newbery-winning fantasy series now available in gorgeous new paperback editions! Since The Book of Three was first published in 1964, young readers have been enthralled by the adventures of Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper and his quest to become a hero. Taran is joined by an engaging cast of characters that includes Eilonwy, the strong-willed and sharp-tongued princess; Fflewddur Fflam, the hyperbole-prone... (more)

The Arthurian Saga: Book 1

The Crystal Cave

by Mary Stewart

Born the bastard son of a Welsh princess, Myridden Emrys -- or as he would later be known, Merlin -- leads a perilous childhood, haunted by portents and visions. But destiny has great plans for this no-man's-son, taking him from prophesying before the High King Vortigern to the crowning of Uther Pendragon . . . and the conception of Arthur -- king for once and always.

The Chronicles of Prydain: Book 1

The Book of Three

by Lloyd Alexander

The tale of Taran, assistant pig keeper, has been entertaining young readers for generations. Set in the mythical land of Prydain (which bears a more than passing resemblance to Wales), Lloyd Alexander's book draws together the elements of the hero's journey from unformed boy to courageous young man. Taran grumbles with frustration at home in the hamlet Caer Dallben; he yearns to go into battle like his hero,... (more)

Emlyn's Moon (Nimmo, Jenny. Magician Trilogy)

Emlyn's Moon (Nimmo, Jenny. Magician Trilogy)

by Jenny Nimmo

Young magician Gywn and his friend Nia have been warned to stay away from Emlyn Llewelyn, the strange boy who claims his mother lives on the moon. And yet, a mysterious magic continues to draw them to him. But why? It's up to Gwyn and Nia to solve the mystery, with the help of Arianwen, the Snow Spider. Readers will race along with Gwyn in this fantastic magical adventure to rescue Emlyn and his family before... (more)

The Chestnut Soldier

by Jenny Nimmo

Gwyn can feel danger coming in the wind. Somehow he knows the warnings have to do with the broken toy horse that holds the evil spirit of a prince who lived long ago. When Gwyn discovers that the prince's dark soul has escaped from the horse and is seeking revenge Gwyn, Emlyn, and Nia have to figure out how to save the mysterious soldier who claims to be Nia's distant cousin. With the help of the Snow Spider, can... (more)

Collected Poems, 1934-53 (Everyman's Classics S.)

Collected Poems, 1934-53 (Everyman's Classics S.)

by Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas's poems gambol and frisk across the tongue and imagination like those of few poets I have ever read. His choicely crafted (and often synaesthetic) phrases, his musicality, and his laughingly lilting language are nicely captured by the first two stanzas of Fern Hill --read it aloud for full effect: Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs About the lilting house and happy as... (more)

Thursday Next: Book 4

Something Rotten

by Jasper Fforde

Thursday Next, Head of JurisFiction and ex-SpecOps agent, returns to her native Swindon accompanied by a child of two, a pair of dodos and Hamlet, who is on a fact-finding mission in the real world. Thursday has been despatched to capture escaped Fictioneer Yorrick Kaine but even so, now seems as good a time as any to retrieve her husband Landen from his state of eradication at the hands of the Chronoguard. It's... (more)

Thursday Next: Book 2

Lost in a Good Book

by Jasper Fforde

The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Jasper Fforde’s magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of Jurisfiction—the police force inside... (more)

The Chronicles of Prydain: Book 4

Taran Wanderer

by Lloyd Alexander

The Newbery-winning fantasy series now available in gorgeous new paperback editions! Since The Book of Three was first published in 1964, young readers have been enthralled by the adventures of Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper and his quest to become a hero. Taran is joined by an engaging cast of characters that includes Eilonwy, the strong-willed and sharp-tongued princess; Fflewddur Fflam, the hyperbole-prone... (more)

The Foundling

by Lloyd Alexander

The Newbery-winning fantasy series now available in gorgeous new paperback editions! Since The Book of Three was first published in 1964, young readers have been enthralled by the adventures of Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper and his quest to become a hero. Taran is joined by an engaging cast of characters that includes Eilonwy, the strong-willed and sharp-tongued princess; Fflewddur Fflam, the hyperbole-prone... (more)

The Hiding Place

A Novel

by Trezza Azzopardi

This exceptional novel about family, love, and the innocence and terror of childhood was one of the most applauded and auspicious debuts of the last year. Compared by reviewers to Angela's Ashes and Wuthering Heights, The Hiding Place was the only debut work to be shortlisted for England's prestigious Booker Prize -- in the company of Kazuo Ishiguro and Margaret Atwood -- and went on to become a universally... (more)

Marabou Stork Nightmares

by Irvine Welsh

The acclaimed author of the cult classic Trainspotting presents his newest and most audacious novel--a brilliant (and literal) head trip that introduces Roy Strang, whose hallucinatory quest to eradicate the evil marabou stork keeps being interrupted by the grisly memories that brought him to this dysfunctional state. "A fantastic trip."--Madison Smartt Bell, Spin.

Witches, Druids And King Arthur

by Ronald Hutton

In "Stations of the Sun" and "The Triumph of the Moon", Ronald Hutton established himself as a leading authority on the historian of Paganism. His wealth of unusual knowledge, complemented by a deep and sympathetic understanding of past and present beliefs that are often dismissed as strange or marginal, and an ability to write lucidly and wittily, gives his work a unique flavour. The essays which make up... (more)

Aberystwyth Mon Amour

by Malcolm Pryce

Schoolboys are disappearing all over Aberystwyth and nobody knows why. Louie Knight, the town's private investigator, soon realizes that it is going to take more than a double ripple from Sospan, the philosopher cum ice-cream seller, to help find out what is happening to these boys and whether or not Lovespoon, the Welsh teacher, Grand Wizard of the Druids and controller of the town, is more than just a sinister... (more)

The Cutting Room

by Louise Welsh

When Rilke, a dissolute and promiscuous auctioneer, comes upon a hidden collection of seemingly violent photographs, he feels compelled to unearth more about the deceased owner who coveted them. What follows is a compulsive journey of discovery, decadence, and deviousness that leads Rilke into a dark underworld of transvestite clubs, seedy bars, and porn shops. In this hidden city haunted by a host of vividly... (more)

The Snow Spider (Magician Trilogy)

by Jenny Nimmo

On Gwyn's 9th birthday, his grandmother tells him he may be a magician, like his Welsh ancestors. She gives him five gifts to help him--a brooch, a piece of dried seaweed, a tin whistle, a scarf, and a broken toy horse. One blustery day, unsure what to do with his newfound magic, Gwyn throws the brooch to the wind and receives a silvery snow spider in return. Will he be able to use this special spider to bring his... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: welsh

by Charlotte Guest

by Lloyd Alexander

by Irvine Welsh

by Lloyd Alexander

by Lloyd Alexander

by Mary Stewart

by Lloyd Alexander

by Jenny Nimmo

by Jenny Nimmo

by Dylan Thomas

by Jasper Fforde

by Jasper Fforde

by Lloyd Alexander

by Lloyd Alexander

A Novel

by Trezza Azzopardi

by Irvine Welsh

by Ronald Hutton

by Malcolm Pryce

by Louise Welsh

by Jenny Nimmo