Tyger, Tyger is the first of the Goblin Wars trilogy by Kersten Hamilton based on  Celtic Folklore or Mythology. It is Chronicles of Narnia meets Hunger Games with creatures scarier and even more mystical. Hamilton pens fear to life and sheds a shadow over a world that while just like ours,  it is awake to the dreamlike and nightmarish creatures that most humans know nothing of. Just as I felt after reading books from the masterminds of  Tolkien and C.S Lewis who created worlds where I that submerged me, Tyger Tyger holds its own in the fantasy arena. Beware though that even as an adult you will find yourself trapped by what awaits you inside these pages.

Hamilton does not shy away from the spiritual implications on either end of the spectrum. I know that could make some people uncomfortable, but it is written as fantasy, in which you will see characters that resemble reality but aren't fully real. Although Kersten Hamilton is a christian, she longs for this book to go out mainstream and minister by way of storytelling, or a parable-like approach to our world. Too often we are afraid to mention the power of darkness, so as not to cause fear, disturb anyone. But as followers of Jesus Christ we strip Him of His power when we don't acknowledge what we are battling in His name.

On an entertainment can-I-put-it-down level, I tore through it, in a day or so. And then I was mad. Why? Because I hated for it to end and now I 'get' to wait a year to read the next and I don't want to (read that in a VERY whinny voice)!! I want to keep reading in that world,to know what happens to Tea and Finn.  I am thinking about it while in the garden, while washing dishes long, LONG after the last page was turned. It is the type of book where I am now spending the evening wandering around looking for another one that could satisfy this craving. I pick one up, look at it and then set it down. Repeat. Repeat.

Have you felt this way about a book? Oh, it is a love hate relationship I have with books that make me do this. I love them, but hate them for ever ending. This is the kind of book that makes reading fun again. This is one of my absolute favourites of the year!!! (It is available on Amazon right now, or wait until the 15th of November and it will be in other bookstores too!!)

I'll leave you with the poem 'The Tyger' by William Blake, which is why this book is titled Tyger Tyger.  In this poem Blake leaves it up to the reader to decide if the creator of the predatory tiger could also make the docile lamb, its victim.

The Tyger

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

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(I liked both covers for this book so I just HAD to include them!!)

Guernica
by Dave Boling
372 Pages
Literary Historical Fiction
Spanish Civil War
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
September 2009

This is the narrative of the Basque life through several generations. By starting out the novel showing the beauty and strength of the Basques it allows the reader to fall in love so that we care about the people when we dive into the historically accurate battle of Guernica. More than a battle it is a massacre, a test that Germany uses to figure out if these planes and weapons could cause total devastation. When the screams quiet and people crawl out into the light again they see the complete flattening of all they knew. And soon the one thing that they hate, the shooting in Guernica is what unites them. This common bond of humanity brings culture from the shattered buildings and the people out of their lonely homes.

I found this book to be incredibly historically accurate and loved that it filled in the human aspect of the whole conflict. I love history but more than history I love the social aspect of history (history's impact on humans)  and I loved this book because it did just that, gave a face to the Basque nation and also a voice to their past. I have recently read several others on this time period and about this location which are amazing reads as well (links posted below). There is so much to learn from history, and so much that we just can't bear to repeat. Spain during the civil war was destroyed, and then the dictator Franco brought even more horrors to the people.

Guernica Painting by Picasso

Dave Boling is accurate, intricate and completely detailed in his re-telling of this devastating time. Having lived in Spain I could feel the hardship as I read his words. The characters he created were to die for, they were versatile, lifelike and entirely relatable.

This is a great book, it made me cry and laugh and realize that after the valley of pain we are able to feel joy better than we could before. I highly recommend that you pick this one up for any history lovers, or anyone who wants to read an amazingly hopeful and insightful book about this dark time in Spain. Yes, it gets my highest praise Stellar Five Chicken Book Award -enjoy!

Two other books I have reviewed about the Spanish Civil War and the Basque Nation:
The Return
Plants Don't Drink Coffee

Want to get your hands on Guernica by Dave Boling??

I am a Powell’s affiliate and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any book you buy using my links. Thank you!

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Plants Don't Drink Coffee
by Unai Elorriaga (in original Basque)
Translated by Amaia Gabantxo
208 Pages
Fiction
Archipelago Books
July 2009

In Plants Don't Drink Coffee the reader follows the story of four very diverse yet intersecting people while enjoying a ride of lightheartedness and depth. Tomas a young boy with the desire above all else to be intelligent, is the star of this novel or maybe one of the stars. He is precocious and witty and incredibly funny to read. When reading his thoughts you can hear him saying these things in a pre-adolescent, high-pitched and non-stopping excited sort of way. There is a main story which unites all four people that is clever and has a mystery feel to it, or adventure.

This book for me was a complete success. Unai did everything right in his writing and the translation was incredible as well (by Amaia Gabantxo). It was one of those books where you feel the need to keep reading it through the chapter breaks, and every time you sit down you want to lap it up. Reading about the Basque culture was very interesting to me, as it is a people group that intrigues me in their strength and resourcefulness.

I took this with me on the plane on my trip to Spain and it was the perfect read to keep my attention all through the long hours of sleeplessness on the plane, and then to help me pass some of my jet lag mid-night reading sessions after we arrived. Plants Don't Drink Coffee never failed to impress me, I loved most the honesty of the voice, the transparency of failures, the clever voice of a child and the witty actions of everyone. It is one of the best books I have read this year. Loved it.

It is my honour to bestow upon Plants Don't Drink Coffee my 'can't cluck enough' chicken award!

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The Visitor
Directed by Tom McCarthy
Indie Drama
PG 13 (for brief strong language)
103 Min.
April, 2007

Awards:
Best Music - 2008 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Associat
Best Original Screenplay - Tom McCarthy - 2008 San Diego Film Critics Association
Best Independent Film - 2008 National Board of Review
Best Director - 2008 Independent Spirit Awards

Go to The New York Times for the whole list of (tons) of awards The Visitor was nominated for as well as those which it received.

A grieving and bored-with-life professor (Richard Jenkins) is just getting by in life. He survives committing himself to nothing more than the minimum effort required to make it day by day- he eats, sleeps and works. When his boss sends him to represent a paper he co-authored he finds something waiting for him in his apartment. Unsure and very cautious he takes a full step forward, it is by mistake that he finds himself  with the hope of human relationships. The need for family, for a human bond will make the widowed professor Walter Vale assess the real value of all that he has and has lost- and needs to get back.

This flick is the type where while (and after) you watch it you just can't imagine how it could have not been brought to your attention before. I only have the Netflix automated suggestions computer to thank that I have even seen it now. For me there are films, flicks and movies...those which you choose because you just want to veg and sit and watch- they aren't really worth the time, but they are just filler in a busy day. And then there are movies like The Visitor, which I watched almost two weeks ago and still I am thinking about it, chewing it, loving it. The actors, (Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira and Hiam Abbass) although not really bigwigs, they did some of the best acting I have seen in a long time. Plot, acting and cinematography all work together to make The Visitor a flick worth its weight in books. Yes, this is a must see, period.

The Visitor is a story of  grief, of relationship, of family and the loss that is felt when people leave. Holes which we think can never be filled again. In truth that exact place cannot be perfectly matched. But because we fear moving on it is easy to be trapped in a place where our joy is limited- by no one else but ourselves. Choosing to live in the past so as not to forget, so as not to move on. Fear and love hold tight, only to be broken open when the grieving person allows for joy to come back in.

When life takes turns to drastically satisfy are we ready to jump with it, or is the choice  of 'moving on' just as hard as living  a life in mourning?

I have a new award, I think you will like it and I am honoured to give it to this flick before any other one, yes this movie is to cluck about!

This is The Visitor trailer, however I will caution you that if you already want to see it after the review that you NOT watch it....I wish I had expereienced the film for the first time while watching it. I feel like too much is given away in the trailer. But if you aren't convinced yet, after my review....check out the trailer, then you will be won over completely. Promise.

If you are a Netflix customer, you can view The Visitor as a "watch instantly" flick, and really you should head over and do that right now.

Check out The Visitor links:

The Visitor on Rotten Tomatoes. com
The Visitor: Netflix
New York Times Critics' Pick: The Visitor Review

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Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
by Dai Sajie ( 戴思杰 )
International Fiction
208 Pages
published in 2000
Anchor Books

During China's Cultural Revolution, books were banned, children of well-off parents were sent off alone to work in the rural communities, and the government held a fear of anything that did not blatantly support the movement. It was a time of darkness throughout the country, and where regulations and impediments became more important than all else. This is the time period of which Dai Sajie writes in his novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. A story of love, of jealousy, and of children becoming men and women in this critical time frame in China's government.

In this novel, two city boys are sent to work in the fields in the country. While there they meet and fall for the tailor's daughter, who proves to be the jewel to be had. This little seamstress, who is more beautiful than any of the other girls (at least in the opinion of her suitors).All three of them, the seamstress, Luo and Ma (the narrator) become so obsessed with reading these forbidden books that they are willing to risk it all, for they could be severely punished for their attempts at obtaining any book which is not governmental propaganda.

The longer I waited to review Balzac and the Little Seamstress, the more it sunk in, the more I just really did love it. I really did. I bought this a year ago, mostly because the cover completely captivated me and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It was actually even better that I expected, and you had better believe that I had height expectations. The simple and yet stout style of Dai Sijie is perfect for the book. He has written a superb gem here, the inside of the book is even better than the outside! I loved the main characters, the writing was just right and the story/plot couldn't have been any better. Seriously, it was just so good. Plus, it was about another country, and I love to read abroad!

If it could possibly get any better, it does. For all of us who are obsessed with books, it has a hidden special element of attraction. Can you even imagine if all books that were not written to glorify the current government were banned? What would become of us? I became completely entranced. This gets a full five chickens from me peeps, no doubt. So stop drooling over that beautiful cover and start drooling over the inside!

What would you do if books were banned? Can we even comprehend that here with all the freedoms we have?

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