This July, I dug through the clutter on my bookshelf and pulled out a notebook. It was old in the sense that I was given it many years ago (and it’s partially decayed) but brand new in the sense that I’d never found a purpose for it. In this notebook, from here forward, I’ve decided to keep track of all the pieces of literature that I read during the year. And now, as 2025 comes to an end, I thought it would be neat to share the reading list of a genealogist who’s an expert in Welsh family history and someone who wants to read more to write better.
Many of the readings below are related to my work. Some are books that have been patiently sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me to finally open them. And others are things I thought would be fun to read with my friend. No matter what they are, they’re all making a small impact on how I grow as a writer.
The most fun part of my reading journey has been bringing my loved ones along with me. Many a night was spent on the phone with my friend, reading poems back and forth to each other and discussing imagery, rhymes, themes, and how we did or didn’t connect with them. Sometimes this took a lot of preparation on my end, since I wanted to finally read a book of poetry I bought many years ago by the Uruguayan poet, Juana de Ibarbourou (who’s quickly become my favourite). The problem was that my friend doesn’t speak Spanish, so I translated each poem by hand and wrote the English version in another notebook before we even got to reading and discussing. One of these poems, “Rebelde,” is now pasted to my wall. I wrote it onto watercolour paper before illuminating it and now it serves as an everyday reminder to forge my own path in life and to live as fully and vibrantly as I choose. I’ve never spent so much time reading in this way—where words on a page, become discussion among friends and art on my wall. It’s going to be a memory I cherish forever.
Rebel “Charon: I will be a scandal on your boat/While the other shadows pray, moan, and cry/and beneath your gaze of sinister patriarch/the timid and sad, in hushed tones, orate.//I will go like a lark singing along the river/and I will bring to your boat my wild perfume,/and radiate in the waves of the shadowy creek/like a blue lantern that illuminates the voyage.”
Another of my friends was so excited that she started sending me poems from books on the forgotten shelves of her bookcase. The rest of my friends and family found themselves subjected to just about every poem that I thought was kinda cool. I even made a 10-or-so page book of poems for my Grandma, which I printed out and bound with two pink bows. I don’t think she’s ever read poetry before, but she loved it! She gave an unsure laugh though when I told her that I left the last page blank because “if you read 10 poems, then you have to write your own!” I’m excited to see what she does with it.
I’ve returned to writing poetry myself—something I haven’t done in many years. They’re unpolished and rough around the edges, but they’re mine, and that makes them special. I’ll share one that bridges the gap between my rekindled love of reading and my passion for family history:
An Apple from Your Tree
Today I ate an apple from your tree,
crunched its delicious flesh between my teeth,
nourished my body on its sweet juice,
filled a void in my heart with one small fruit.
Thirteen years ago when you were made dust,
who knew you’d be here all this time later?
Perhaps minding us is your fate or just
something you wanted to do forever?
Today I ate an apple from the tree of my Grandfather,
picked specially by the hand of my Grandmother,
ferried home in the basket of my Mother,
to unlock a smile so toothy and free.
–Dai Davies of GenealCymru, Oct. 25, 2025
This poem, I’ll have you know, comes highly-rated. My Grandma said, “That is beautiful! That is absolutely beautiful! I made applesauce today.” She didn’t pause for a moment before launching into her story about applesauce (what better time to ask if she had any childhood memories of making preserves, hm?).
Anyway, here’s everything I’ve read since July of this year. Hopefully you find something that piques your interest and, if you do, leave me a comment to tell me what you think!
Family History
2022. Hailwood. “Rethinking Literacy in Rural England, 1550-1700.”
2019. Johnston. “Writing the Nation in Two Languages: The Dictionary of Welsh Biography,” In True Biographies of Nations.
2017. Coster. Chapter 1 in Family and Kinship in England, 1450-1800.
2014. Davies. Chapter 4 in The Welsh Language: A History.
2011. Davidoff. Chapters 7 & 9 in Thicker Than Water: Siblings and Their Relations.
2011. Pryce. “Culture, Identity, and the Medieval Revival in Victorian Wales.”
2010. Jones. Introduction in The Bard is a Very Singular Character.
2006. Healy. “Suicide in Early Modern & Modern Europe.”
1997. Cook. “The Contribution of Nonconformity to Elementary Education in Swansea.”
1990. Stephens. “Literacy in Engalnd, Scotland, and Wales, 1500-1900.”
1931. Clapp. “The Beginnings of Subscription Publication in the 17th Century.”
1890. Morgan-Richardson. “History of Mrs. Bevan’s Charity.”
1835. Harries. “Summary of the Life and Character of Rev. Griffith Jones, Llanddowror.”
1800. Thomas Johnes. A Cardiganshire Landlord’s Advice to his Tenants.
1740. Rev. Griffith Jones. Welsh Piety.
Poetry
*1998. Juana de Ibarbourou. Juana de Ibarbourou: Selección Poetica.
1960. Sylvia Plath. “Sleep in the Mojave Desert.”
1946. Gabriela Mistral. “Dame la Mano.”
*1924. Bowman. Dream Tapestries. [About half of it]
*1918. Hainer Maria Rilke translated by Jessie Lemont. Poems.
*1913. Radclyffe Hall. Songs of Three Counties.
*1891. José Martí. “Versos Sencillos.”
*1850. “How do I Love Thee?” Elizabeth Barnet Browning.
1787. Freneau. “The I-di-n Burial Ground.”
20th C. Silvina Ocampo. Assorted Poems including “Epitaph for a Tree,” “The Pines.”
*20th C. Edward Bough. “Truth and Consequences.”
*20th C. Louise Bennet. “Hear So”
*19th-20th C. Radclyffe Hall. Assorted Poems including “Kinship,” “A Complaint,” “A Fragment,” “A Little Dirge,” “A Little Song,” “A Night in Italy,” “A Pearl Necklace,” “A Summer Thought,” “A Twilight Fancy.”
Early 20th C. Edna St. Vincent Villay. Assorted Poems including “Afternoon on a Hill,” “The Singing Woman from the Wood’s Edge,” “Spring,” “Weeds,” “Song of a Second April,” “Wild Swans.”
*Late-19th early 20th C. Rubén Darío. “Amo Amas.”
Mid-17th C. Anne Bradstreet. “The Author to Her Book.”
Drama
440BCE. Sophocles. Antigone.
Academic Works
1970. Paolo Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
1988. Jamaica Kincaid. A Small Place.
Fiction
2014. Lily King. Euphoria. [only read 10 pages, didn’t like it]
2010. Isabel Allende. Island Beneath the Sea.
2002. Isabel Allende. City of the Beasts.
2000. Crossley-Holland. Arthur: The Seeing Stone. [only read 25 pages, didn’t like it]
1970. Mary Stewart.The Crystal Cave.
*Each work marked with an asterix is one that I read with my friend.
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