The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts
By: Joshua Hammer

Published: 2016

# of pages: 280

Challenge: Full House, What's in a Name?

Official description:  To save precious centuries-old Arabic texts from Al Qaeda, a band of librarians in Timbuktu pulls off a brazen heist worthy of Ocean’s Eleven.
In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that had fallen into obscurity. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the incredible story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, later became one of the world’s greatest and most brazen smugglers.
In 2012, thousands of Al Qaeda militants from northwest Africa seized control of most of Mali, including Timbuktu. They imposed Sharia law, chopped off the hands of accused thieves, stoned to death unmarried couples, and threatened to destroy the great manuscripts. As the militants tightened their control over Timbuktu, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali.
Over the past twenty years, journalist Joshua Hammer visited Timbuktu numerous times and is uniquely qualified to tell the story of Haidara’s heroic and ultimately successful effort to outwit Al Qaeda and preserve Mali’s—and the world’s—literary patrimony. Hammer explores the city’s manuscript heritage and offers never-before-reported details about the militants’ march into northwest Africa. But above all, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is an inspiring account of the victory of art and literature over extremism.

My opinion: I wish this book had pictures and more descriptions of the actual librarians who risked their lives to save the manuscripts. The book mainly concentrates on the terrorism in Mali and North Africa, which is necessary to the story of the libraries. The problem for me is that there were more details about the terrorists themselves, including the history of several of the leaders, than about the librarians. The only librarian that is really discussed is Haidara, and he didn't physically transport the books. It was awesome that he organized everything, but I wish the readers could learn more about his nephew Touré and others who were smuggling the books.

Why I gave this book 3/5 stars: Interesting read about a subject I had never heard of before, but most of the book had nothing to do with the title, which leads readers to believe they will be reading about true heroes and not the "bad guys."

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His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-Proof Marriage
By:  Willard F. Harley, Jr.
Published: 2001
# of pages: 224

Official description: Marriage works only when each spouse takes the time to consider the other's needs and strives to meet them. In His Needs, Her Needs, Willard Harley identifies the ten most vital needs of men and women and shows husbands and wives how to satisfy those needs in their spouses. He provides guidance for becoming irresistible to your spouse and for loving more creatively and sensitively, thereby eliminating the problems that often lead to extramarital affairs. The revised anniversary edition of His Needs, Her Needs is a celebration of how the book has helped thousands of couples revitalize their marriages during the last fifteen years. This best-seller identifies the causes of marital difficulties and instructs couples on how to prevent them, guiding them to build a relationship that sustains romance and increases intimacy. With today's soaring divorce rate and prevalence of affairs, Harley's insights are needed more than ever before.An unabridged recording of His Needs, Her Needs, the 15th anniversary edition, is now available as an audio book.

My opinion:  I changed this from 3 stars to 2 stars after thinking about it overnight. First of all, this book is obviously written by a man! Someone who has never given birth or stayed at home full time with babies/toddlers/preschoolers. 

Secondly, the book definitely uses fear and negativity throughout the chapters. I understand that probably every family that deals with a cheating spouse never thought it would happen to them, but I don't think that it is as common as the author makes it out to be, and even if it is, I don't think it's necessary to continually use guilt and scare tactics to make the reader feel insecure. 

Third, the author uses modern ideas of beauty in his chapter on physical appearance. Men should appreciate a woman's natural beauty. A woman shouldn't have to put chemicals on her face, on her skin, or in her hair to keep her husband from cheating on her. It wasn't so long ago that makeup, hair dyes, and trendy hair and clothes were not beautiful to American men and women. Prostitutes were the ones wearing makeup and dying their hair. Now the typical American's idea of a beautiful woman is very thin, tan, wearing makeup, and highlighted hair. It is just a phase and women shouldn't feel forced to take place in that just to make a man happy. There is always going to be someone prettier that your husband comes into contact with to put more "love units" into his "bank." If that's what it takes for him to cheat, it won't matter what you do to make him happy with your physical appearance.

There are some positive ideas in the book. His advice about affection and mutual activities are very helpful. It is also helpful to know that men and women have different needs and that it may be uncomfortable, but trying to meet some of those needs will be helpful in your marriage

London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets
By: Peter Ackroyd

Challenges: What's in a Name

Published: 2011

# of pages: 240

Official description:  London Under is a wonderful, atmospheric, imagina­tive, oozing short study of everything that goes on under London, from original springs and streams and Roman amphitheaters to Victorian sewers, gang hideouts, and modern tube stations. The depths below are hot, warmer than the surface, and this book tunnels down through the geological layers, meeting the creatures, real and fictional, that dwell in darkness—rats and eels, mon­sters and ghosts. When the Underground’s Metropolitan Line was opened in 1864, the guards asked for permission to grow beards to protect themselves against the sulfurous fumes, and named their engines after tyrants—Czar, Kaiser, Mogul—and even Pluto, god of the underworld. 
To go under London is to penetrate history, to enter a hid­den world. As Ackroyd puts it, “The vastness of the space, a second earth, elicits sensations of wonder and of terror. It partakes of myth and dream in equal measure.”

My opinion: I found this book to be very fascinating.  I only wish it was more detailed!  The author jumps around a lot, but it's not so frustrating since it isn't a novel.  However, he spent a lot of time writing about the underground train system, which I don't think qualifies as "secret history."  I wish more time had been spent on the parts of underground London that aren't as well documented in other sources.

I love archaeology and so enjoyed reading about the civilizations that made up London before it was even London.  And the underground rivers were also fascinating.  It's pretty crazy that so many different things exist under the city.  Ancient artifacts, natural formations, and modern improvements.

I just hope someday I will be able to visit London and see this complex city in person!


Why I gave this book 3/5 stars: Interesting non-fiction, but not detailed enough in the actual "secret history."

Other reviews:  
Reading and Writing and Movies, Oh My!

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The Blue Cotton Gown: A Midwife's Memoir
By: Patricia Harman

Published: 2008

# of pages: 289

Quote:  "The couple had made the baby by accident and given him away on purpose, a gift to a family that couldn't conceive. . . . I've never forgotten their courage."  -pg. 60

Official description:Heather is pale and thin, seventeen and pregnant with twins when Patricia Harman begins to care for her. Over the course of the next five seasons Patsy will see Heather through the loss of both babies and their father. She will also care for her longtime patient Nila, pregnant for the eighth time and trying to make a new life without her abusive husband. And Patsy will try to find some comfort to offer Holly, whose teenage daughter struggles with bulimia. She will help Rebba learn to find pleasure in her body and help Kaz transition into a new body. She will do noisy battle with the IRS in the very few moments she has to spare, and wage her own private battle with uterine cancer.
Patricia Harman, a nurse-midwife, manages a women's health clinic with her husband, Tom, an ob-gyn, in West Virginia-a practice where patients open their hearts, where they find care and sometimes refuge. Patsy's memoir juxtaposes the tales of these women with her own story of keeping a small medical practice solvent and coping with personal challenges. Her patients range from Appalachian mothers who haven't had the opportunity to attend secondary school to Ph.D.'s on cell phones. They come to Patsy's small, windowless exam room and sit covered only by blue cotton gowns, and their infinitely varied stories are in equal parts heartbreaking and uplifting. The nurse-midwife tells of their lives over the course of a year and a quarter, a time when her outwardly successful practice is in deep financial trouble, when she is coping with malpractice threats, confronting her own serious medical problems, and fearing that her thirty-year marriage may be on the verge of collapse. In the words of Jacqueline Mitchard, this memoir, "utterly true and lyrical as any novel . . . should be a little classic."

My opinion:  After reading The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman, I was eager to read The Blue Cotton Gown, one of her non-fiction memoirs.  I was eager to read more birth stories since she had put variations of real birth stories in her novel.  I wasn't disappointed in the birth stories in The Blue Cotton Gown, but I do wish there had been more of them.  Harman follows several of her patients over the course of a year.  They aren't all pregnant and they have many different physical and emotional problems.  I was impressed by how Harman cared about each of them, even when she didn't want to.  I wish my midwives spent as much time with me and cared about my personal life so much that they would recognize me later.

The only thing I didn't like was her attention to her and her husband's financial situation.  It started feeling like a big pity party after awhile.  Sorry, but it was hard to feel bad for them when they have a vacation home on a lake in addition to their everyday house!!

There is a small amount of bad language.  Sexual descriptions.  Discussion of rape/molestation.  Miscarriages.  Graphic descriptions of the female anatomy and birth.  If this doesn't bother you I definitely recommend!


Why I gave this book 4/5 stars:  Harman has an interesting life and I enjoyed reading each of her stories.  However, I didn't enjoy reading about her sex life or such a large amount about her financial situation.

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Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey
By: The Countess of Carnarvon
Published: 2011
# of pages: 292

Official description: Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey tells the story behind Highclere Castle, the real-life inspiration for the hit PBS show Downton Abbey, and the life of one of its most famous inhabitants, Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon and the basis of the fictional character Lady Cora Crawley.  Drawing on a rich store of materials from the archives of Highclere Castle, including diaries, letters, and photographs, the current Lady Carnarvon has written a transporting story of this fabled home on the brink of war. Much like her Masterpiece Classic counterpart, Lady Almina was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, Alfred de Rothschild, who married his daughter off at a young age, her dowry serving as the crucial link in the effort to preserve the Earl of Carnarvon's ancestral home.  Throwing open the doors of Highclere Castle to tend to the wounded of World War I, Lady Almina distinguished herself as a brave and remarkable woman. This rich tale contrasts the splendor of Edwardian life in a great house against the backdrop of the First World War and offers an inspiring and revealing picture of the woman at the center of the history of Highclere Castle.

My opinion:  I saw this book at a small bookstore I visited in a town near Chicago.  I was intrigued since I had just started watching the series "Downton Abbey" on Netflix.  I had heard a lot about it for months and when I finally started watching it I fell in love!!  So this book caught my eye and I checked it out at the library when I came home.

I started reading it while reading a novel and it was hard for me to get into.  I figured it was just a boring history book and put it on the back burner.  But after a couple of weeks it was the only book I had left so I gave it my full attention.

Like I said, it took awhile, but I ended up really enjoying it!  It's not how I thought it would be, more of a day to day "story" of the family and servants.  For some reason I expected it to be more like the TV series, just with real historical figures.  But it's more like a history book and covers an extensive time period.  However, the Carnarvons' lives were filled with drama.  The entire family was involved in WWI and then Lord Carnarvon and Almina were involved in Egyptology, especially the discovering of "King Tut's" tomb along with Howard Carter.  I used to love reading about ancient Egypt and the discoveries of the Valley of the Kings.  It's neat to think that I once read about Carnarvon, but don't remember his name (instead Howard Carter's stuck in my memory).

It's kind of odd to think about this being the inspiration for "Downton Abbey."  I don't really get it.  Besides the fact that Lord Carnarvon married Almina for her money to save Highclere just like the Earl marries Cora for her money to save Downton, there doesn't seem to be much of a connection.  Of course, I haven't watched Season 2 yet...which I gather takes place during WWI.

I recommend this book to lovers of history and those who want to read an overview of WWI.  I think this would be an interesting way for high schoolers to learn about the time period.

Why I gave this book 4/5 stars:  Interesting record of historical events, especially WWI and the discovery of "King Tut."  Sometimes frustrating when it discovered people that were unrelated to the Carnarvons or their stories.  


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Bossypants

By: Tina Fey

Published: 2011

# of pages: 288

Quote: "And should she be a mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.
'My mother did this for me once,' she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby's neck. 'My mother did this for me.' And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a mental note to call me. And she will forget. But I'll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes." - "A Mother's Prayer for her Child" - Tina Fey

Official description:

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.

(Includes Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!)

My opinion: I really enjoyed Tina Fey's memoir and I'm glad I did because I was on the waiting list for it at the library for MONTHS. I was surprised to read that she was slashed by a knife-wielding stranger as a child and still has a scar from the attack. At first I thought she was joking when she mentions it early in the book, but she isn't. She talks about it a couple of other times, but I still looked it up just to make sure it was true. It's kind of hard to tell because the whole book is light-hearted, although not all the subjects are light.

A few of the serious topics she discusses include homosexuality, politics, working moms, women in the workplace, and marriage. Let me just say, I don't agree with her on some of these topics but that's okay. It didn't ruin the book for me because she isn't too pushy. Her viewpoint seems to be that everyone is different and what's right for her isn't necessarily right for others.

The only thing that bothered me was I felt she started to ramble while talking about her teen years. It wasn't as interesting and the whole teen life thing seemed immature to me.

I did enjoy hearing what she had to say about her appearances on SNL during the 2008 election. It was great to hear about it from her point of view after having seen the skits 3 years ago.

Why I gave this book 4/5 stars: Humorous, interesting, a little controversial, some parts were rambling.

Other reviews:
S. Krishna's Books
Chrisbookarama

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Eat Pray Love

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by: John Berendt

Challenges: What's in a Name?

Published: 1994

# of pages: 400



This is a fascinating and engrossing book that I was amazed to discover is non-fiction! Berendt describes Savannah, Georgia as it was in the 1980s, including a large variety of eccentric characters. Jim Williams is the man who ties the book together. He keeps cropping up in the first part, at the end of which he is accused of murder, and the second part concentrates on his murder trial.

I remained interested throughout the entire book. The first part doesn't have a steady storyline, it jumps around and doesn't have a concrete theme. However, I still remained interested. I enjoyed hearing about the many people Berendt came into contact with while living in Savannah. The second part has a different atmosphere. I was eager to see what the outcome of Williams' trial would be and was also interested in the legal procedures that are described.

There was one chapter that concentrated on a woman named Chablis that I did not like. It was very crude. Her language and choice of topics didn't appeal to me whatsoever. Other than that chapter, I highly recommend this book to all adults, but especially those interested in Southern literature.



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The 5-Minute Face by: Carmindy

Published: 2007

# of pages: 208


I feel so silly for reviewing a makeup book of all things! Ya'll will think I'm so girly, but the truth is I'm actually not. And that's why I need help...from Carmindy. Some of you may recognize her name from the TV show "What Not to Wear." She is always demonstrating her 5 minute face on the show and when I did a search for it online to find out more details I was happy to come across this book.

This is a great book for those who enjoy the beautification process and for those who don't. I hardly ever wear makeup, but one reason is because I used to feel like I didn't know how to put it on correctly. When I wore it I was constantly wondering if I looked ridiculous or if other people could see that I didn't know what I was doing. This book simplifies things and you can pick and choose what you want to do. She has a product guide for different skin types, she recommends colors for different shades of skin, and then gives a guide on what types of makeup to wear for different age groups. All of this complements her 5 minute face plan.

I still don't wear a whole lot of makeup unless it's a special occasion, but now I feel more confident when I do wear it. Also, I discovered an awesome product called mattifying gel that I love. So I just wanted to recommend this book because there may very well be women like me out there who could use some help. And who knows, you just may discover the perfect product that will make your life easier.

The Glass Castle by: Jeannette Walls

Published: 2005

# of pages: 288

Quote: There are way too many to pick from!!


Walls did an excellent job writing a memoir that flows and feels like a story. Walls' description of her life from age 3 through her adult years was just as action packed and gripping as a novel and is perfect for fans of memoirs and fiction alike.

A friend of my mom's said she read this book with her jaw gaping open in amazement the entire time. I reacted the same way, especially during the first half of the memoir. Unfortunately, I found the second half more believeable, although it is still amazing that Walls lived in such terrible conditions and has created such a well-written account of her experiences.

This is a story of success, of perseverance, of love, and encouragement. Walls is an ultimate role model, especially for other people who have grown up in similar environments. I was struck by her common sense and cheered for her as she made bold decisions to change her life. I also admired how close she was to her older sister and younger brother. The love between the 3 of them was beautiful and if there was only one good thing about the circumstances they survived, it was that they were brought closer together through everything.

I 100% recommend this memoir to everyone. It is entertaining, heartbreaking, encouraging, and an eye opener to how some people live, even in modern America. It is also a lesson that although stereotypes may try to condemn a person to a life of hardship, there's always a chance of breaking free and building a successful way of life.

Growing Up Firstborn: The Pressure and Privilege of Being Number One by: Dr. Kevin Leman


Published: 1989


Non-fiction, Psychology, Family relationships, Self-actualization

Quote: "I have counceled many firstborns who felt guilty about doing anything nice for themselves. They felt that they always had to be doing, accomplishing, moving forward - and if they weren't, then they were being lazy and nonproductive." -- Dr. Kevin Leman in Growing Up Firstborn

Growing Up Firstborn discusses typical personality traits that the majority of firstborns share such as perfectionism, leadership skills, organization, being a list maker (yeah can you tell I'm a firstborn?), being scholarly, etc. It also devotes sections to "You and Your Firstborn", family relationships, and a firstborn's relationships with other people and spouses. Firstborns have many strengths and weaknesses and these are clearly discussed in the book.

This is one of the few non-fiction books I have read outside of school and it is the only psychology book I've read. I was looking on the internet for Christian marriage books and stumbled across Leman's book, The Birth Order Book. After reserving that at the library, I also picked up Growing Up Firstborn. It is amazing how acurate both of these books described me and my family. I recommend that all firstborns and parents read Growing Up Firstborn and that anyone who is in a relationship with another person read The Birth Order Book. Both of these also discuss only children, who have similar characteristics to firstborns. Have you ever read anything about birth order or if you are a firstborn have you read anything about your position in the family? What do you think about these concepts? Did you find it helpful?