This will hurt me...

I give thanks to the eagle-like gaze of true patriots like those at Obscene Desserts , whose alert eyes may well avert future catastrophes for humanity. I should really put them onto the case of the mysterious, yet somehow evil terrorgnome of Salta province ! Yet it is important that vigilant citizens do not get too distracted by the tiny menace of Tucumán teens (how about that for a sentence?). The new threat to society as we know it comes from a far greater evil: Nazi racoons! Yes, it appears that an army of militaristic mammals are on the march and threatening Europe in a manner not seen since World War Two. Even worse, these beasts appear to have been handpicked by evil Nazi genius (and sometime cross-dresser) 'Hungry' Hermann Göring! See everyone's favourite paper The Sun for more! I am almost too scared to contemplate the other evil revealed by all of this: the "Kitler" phenomenon. That is, cats that look like Hitler !

As is always a good sign, I managed to steam through this book in 3 days, despite the fact that I’ve been working full time at the moment. Seriously, I found this book difficult to put down, and one of those occasions when you are truly sad to finish it. Compounding this is the fact that we get no subsequent biographical information of the author (although I both respect and understand her right to choose this). I’ve tried not to give too much away as to events of the book. The author – then a 34-year-old journalist – started this eight-week diary in April 1945, as the Russians were encircling Berlin and the city's (mostly female) inhabitants was heading to its cellars to wait out the fighting. The scarcity of food meant that anyone able-bodied took to looting buildings for food of any kind. However, soon the Red Army arrived and soldiers were everywhere. With an astonishing degree of bluntness, she describes the plundering of her neighbourhood when Berlin was conquered and Soviet ...