Impressive! Although I did wonder about Sweden for a bit, until I realised that I was probably thinking about Denmark.... 

Happy Birthday: Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono, is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned vocal style as well as his grandiose song writing and performance style. His lyrics frequently include social and political themes, and religious imagery inspired by his Christian faith.

Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where in 1976 he began dating his future wife, Alison Stewart, as well as forming, with schoolmates, the band that became U2. During U2's early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to the group's rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with the other members. As a member of U2, Bono has received 22 Grammy Awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Hilarious......!

Just Finished Reading: News From Berlin by Otto De Kat (FP: 2012) [203pp] 

Switzerland, June 1941. It was a dangerous whisper in a public place. Dutch diplomat Oscar Verschuur was delighted to see his daughter Emma and her German husband Carl on an official trip from Berlin. What he didn’t expect was the content of her whispered message. She had discovered from her husband that Germany was about to attack its supposed ally and invade the Soviet Union. She even had a date, June 22nd, and a name that meant nothing to her: Barbarossa. But what was Oscar supposed to do with this information? Who could he tell? His Dutch colleagues? Hardly. The neutral Americans? The British? Would they believe him? Would they accept any news out of Berlin except as misinformation or simply lies? Even if he managed to pass the information on, even if an Allied contact believed him, would the Russians? They had little love for the capitalists and assumed, rightly to be honest, that they desired to break the Axis-Soviet Pact, so what would their reaction be? What was worse was the fact that Emma’s actions were bound to have been seen and reported back to Berlin. Oscar was often under surveillance and if the warning could be traced back to him then his daughter, and his son-in-law, would be real danger. But to do nothing? To let the attack go ahead unhindered? Could he live with that? The deaths of thousands, or even millions, that his words might avoid... What to do... What to do... 

On the face of things this sounds like a pretty standard “race against time” espionage ‘thriller’. There are some *faint* echoes of that, but this is much, much more. Oscar is a man of secrets. No one is quite sure what his function is and exactly what he’s doing in Switzerland. His family is, like so many others during the war, scattered across Europe. His only daughter is in Berlin under constant threat of Allied bombing attacks. His wife Kate is in London savouring the drop in German air attacks (as the Luftwaffe presumably reposition on the soon to be Eastern Front). Oscar has just started an affair with a fellow Dutch refugee and Kate is still thinking about her first husband who died in Italy before the war. All of the main, and subsidiary, characters have deep believable backstories and motivations for what they do – or don’t do. They’re all real in that sense as is the central tension created by Emma and the leak from the German Foreign Office. We now know that Stalin had been warned repeatedly by the Allies (and by his own military intelligence!) that an attack was coming but refused to accept the fact and his country paid a very heavy price for that denial. Oscar, of course, didn’t know any of this (unfortunately for his sleepless nights) but OUR knowledge of that fact makes his situation all the more dramatic I feel. 

I’d been looking forward to reading this since I picked it up in my Indie bookshop last year. By page 3 I knew I’d picked a winner. The prose is sublime, the characters very well drawn and it was overall a delight from beginning to end. I think the author has 3-4 more books in translation, so I’ll be looking out for them. One of the highlights of the year. Highly recommended for lovers of well-written character driven stories. 

Translated from the Dutch by Ina Rilke.

[Oh, I almost forgot.... There was ONE disappointment. I was hoping that this would add Switzerland to my fictional world tour but, 'unfortunately' the 'action' was too split between Berlin, London, Lisbon (briefly) and various parts of Switzerland to count.]  

Victory in Europe @ 80.

Just Finished Reading: Crime Fiction – A Very Short Introduction by Richard Bradford (FP: 2015) [122pp] 

Science-Fiction was, and will remain, my first literary love, but Crime Fiction is probably a close second. As with SF one of the things I love about it is the variety – from Golden Age classics, to Hard-boiled American, to historical, translated and even as far-fetched as Vampire detectives and much else besides. Quite a lot of these variants – with the notable exception of vampires – are covered in this interesting slim volume. 

Starting with the origins of the genre – which turns out not to be either as obvious not as agreed upon as I first thought – we swiftly ended up discussing two of my favourite areas, Golden Age and Hard-boiled. I’m getting more familiar with Golden Age crime novels thanks to the British Library series I’m enjoying so much. Before that I’d been fixated on Agatha Christie novels almost exclusively. This section gave me some more authors to explore there. Naturally (as I’ve mentioned several times) I’m a HUGE fan of Noir/Hard-boiled US crime fiction and, again, the author gave me some pointers towards new (to me!) authors to try out.  

After that the author focused on the transition to more modern crime formats on both sides of the Atlantic and how the two dominant styles adapted to the new world, played off each other and morphed into the variety of the modern crime novel we know today. Part of this, of course, was the expansion – indeed explosion – of translated works from Europe and especially from Scandinavia – known as Nordic Noir. Interestingly the author was at a total loss to explain the sudden emerge of this particular sub-genre! 

Inevitably gender roles were brought up looking both at the history of female detectives and the role of women both as protagonists and victims through the decades. The female detective is something I’m going to be looking at later (fictionally and analytically), so it’ll be interesting applying some of his viewpoints to my reading. As of now I’m inclined not to agree with his PoV. 

Before topping out on the literary ‘value’ of crime fiction (personally I hate the idea that some fiction has ‘merit’ and the rest is mere entertainment for the masses and, by definition, of lessor or no ‘value’) the author discussed several crime adjacent genres particularly legal fiction, thrillers and the spy novel. 

Overall, this was an interesting, informative and valuable read. It highlighted a good selection of authors I can investigate and gave me some new perspectives on the genre. Well worth a read if you’re interested in the genre or are wondering where to start your criminal reading. Recommended and more literate based VSI books to come.

Happy Star Wars Day....! May the 4th Be With You.... Always.....