A Writer's House in Wales

I can’t think of a better way to describe Morris’s meditative book about her home, Trefan Morys, than charming. The charm is equal parts her memoirs, the descriptions of a former farm outbuilding turned into a domicile, the woods and countryside in northwest Wales, and the character of her neighbors and the Welsh population as a whole.

Everyone loves a funky house. Trefan Morys is as unique as they get: imagine a converted old stone barn with wood beams and a slate roof. Now imagine this: the horse stalls converted into two rooms, both being floor to ceiling libraries (because "the Internet is no substitute" for a good book). Model ships, strategically scattered everywhere. More books piled on the floor. I picture this house being cozy yet drafty with its upstairs view of the wild Irish sea; cozy yet sprawling with all of its secret nooks and crannies.
Morris's focus is not just on her house, but on her country's people as well. She speaks of geographic history and how Indigenous Wales continues to struggle to keep an identity in the face of a barrage of British show more influence.
The hidden bonus is learning more about Morris as a person and not just a Welsh author who changed gender. She has a sense of humor. She has a partner who has stuck with her throughout it all. She is fearless: Morris is not one to back down from a challenge, climbing Everest to write about Edmund Hillary's ascent, for example. Then there's Ibsen, the cat. It's all so charming. show less

Loved this book. I picked it up because it was in the 942 section, and I was looking to read a book from that section for my Dewey Decimal Challenge. Seemed pretty interesting, fulfilled my 942 need, so I went with it.

Reading this while actually in Wales made the whole experience - both reading and traveling - much more vibrant than would have otherwise been the case. When the author talked about the Welshness of slate floors, my feet were on slate floors. When I saw signs around town in Welsh, but heard only English spoken, I knew from this book why that would be. So for me the book felt very fresh and alive because I didn't need to imagine the environment described, I was in it.

Aside from all that, I loved the book because it show more described in wonderful detail the type of home that I love best, one that is crowded with the evidence of a well-enjoyed life. show less

This is a beautiful, vivid, cozy, melancholy little book about Wales. It has made me sort of despair of writing any more about Welsh history and mythology without visiting North Wales, but these things happen. I am going to have to seek out more Jan Morris.

I would recommend that readers start with the afterword about the Welsh language, in order to avoid mentally butchering the pronunciation of the Welsh names.

A lovely little tome, which I read as I prepare to explore a bit in Wales, a place of my long ago ancestors.
Easy to read (though I did use the dictionary several times), and it made me wish to see her home in person.

In the early years of the new century, the National Geographic Society invited a number of well-known authors to contribute a volume to its new series of National Geographic Directions. Each author chose a location to write about, and apparently authors were left free in their choice of what to write.

Jan Morris, the renowned travel writer, chose to write about her home, which, as the titles shows, is quite literary about the house she lives in, more than about Wales in general.

The result is a rather self-indulgent description of her home, which often feels drawn out to fill the pages, and make sure to produce enough copy. It verges on the edge of vanity.

A Writer's House in Wales is the penultimate work of an author who has come to the show more end of her career as a writer. Since she is most well-known as a travel writer, describing far-away places, it seems fitting that in her last-but-one work she comes, or rather, stays home. A sympathetic volume, but of little interest. show less

The National Geographic Society produced a series of lovely travel books under the unified title of "National Geographic Directions." Each title is written by a well-known author about a place of significance to them. Some of the series are about countries or regions, some about cities or neighborhoods within a city, and some, like this one, about a specific place, like the home of the author. They are not heavy tomes of travel, but rather lighter but more intimate descriptions of places an impressions of importance to the author. I have found this series to be delightful to read. They take the reader on a geographic journey to far and not-so-far places. This more intimate essay makes the book worthwhile reading.

This volume is about the show more author's home in Wales. It is a description of the building, what it contains, and a very sketchy sketch of the people who live there, or frequent the environs. The most interesting part of the essay is what the author has to say about the Welsh language and Welsh Nationalism. According to her, both are alive and well, for the time being. show less