The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts
3 out of 5 stars
Somehow the jacket of this book thoroughly confused me in the beginning. Did anyone else think that this was going to be fiction based on the summary? It sounded like a make believe romper about librarians fighting Al Qaeda. Turns out it’s a true tale of librarians resisting and rebelling against Al Qaeda. Perhaps I was just far too sleepy when I first read the synopsis.
Anywho my darlings, it was definitely interesting. I learned a lot about Timbuktu, something I honestly knew very little about, and also about the war fighting Islamic extremists. To be perfectly honest, most of the time it felt like the story focused solely on the hostile takeover, with librarians peppered in here and there. That doesn’t subtract from how awesome the librarians are, however I do think it takes away from the magic of the subject that the book is supposed to be based on.
Middle of the ground read. You need to be interested in books/manuscripts, history, war, and rebellion to enjoy this one. I’m coming away from this informed but in no way exhilarated about what I just read.
cupcakesandmachetes 