The Librarian

Boy did this book have a lot going on that was right up my alley:

1. The hero is a librarian, so there's a lot of poetic musing over the beauty of libraries, democracy, freedom, etc.

2. The villains are Republicans who are hell bent on controlling the world by any means necessary. Some of them bear strong resemblances to real politicians, e.g. Dick Cheney and George W.

3. It was a page-turner AND well-written AND had some good laughs. That, friends, is a rare combination. There's even some good poetry here and there.

Now, a few warnings. There's some graphic sexual violence that disturbed me a little. And I did roll my eyes a few times at how unbelievably evil the Republicans were. But Beinhart found a great Adam Smith quote to show more rationalize it: "Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience." That is, if the bad guys were just greedy, there would be limits to what they'd do, but because they feel their cause is righteous, they try to win by any means necessary, even MURDER and SUBVERTING DEMOCRACY.

Obviously, if conspiracy theories annoy you, you probably won't like this book. But if you're looking for a wry political thriller that was clearly written by a Democrat, this will fit the bill. show less

To be a librarian...what an ideal job. Right? You work around books all day, get first dibs on checking out the ones you're interested in, you get to boss people around and tell them to be quiet. It's a low key job. There's stress, of course, but it's not life-shattering, world-building stress. So why is a dark ops division of Homeland Security trying to kill David Goldberg, the librarian of the title?

It all starts with an opportunity David has to do some moonlighting, archiving documents and personal papers for the private library of an aged billionaire land-developer. Alan Stowe, it turns out, is also a savvy long-time behind-the-scenes political mover and shaker, buying the people who buy the people who buy the candidates, and show more he--and a few other important people--have a lot riding on the re-election of incumbent president Augustus Winthrop Scott (who is running against a woman). David doesn't actually know anything about any of this but--as he finds out at the party built around the mating of a champion mare at Stowe's stables and the final presidential debate ("We'll make an afternoon and evening of it," Stowe says. "First we'll watch Glorious Morning put it to Angela's Star, then we'll watch The Man put it to Anne Lynn Murphy.")--somebody wants to make damn sure he doesn't find out.

And they're off. David's on the run, and if the bad guys catch him they're going to do some really nasty stuff to him. Especially once he's done his research (he is a librarian, after all) and learned just what it is nobody wants him to know...

The Librarian is smart and very funny, an action packed literary thriller that's so real you think it might actually have happened. show less

This is a fluffy novel by a liberal about an election campaign between a thinly disguised George W. Bush and his female opponent. The Republican agents who conspire to steal the election are all slimy, lustful, chauvinistic, hypocritical, and EEEEEEEEVIL in a cartoonish manner. Opposed to them are a small group of librarians who work tirelessly to bring forth truth and justice. Well at least that part is honest and believable. J Yeah, it's an entertaining read, but it's too ridiculous especially in light of the real evils of the Bush administration.

"The Right had spent so many years castigating the New York Times as the flagship of the liberal media that everyone believed it, including the Left, including the people at the Times show more themselves. But the truth was that the Times was the house organ of the Establishment. It was committed, both editorially and in its presentation of the news, to the interests of the Establishment: continuity, security, and legitimacy. Therefore they generally supported business and finance, the American version of empire, the government, and the president, until, and unless, some excess was so egregious that it posed a threat to continuity, security, or legitimacy. Then the Times would turn on the destablizers, as they did, at last, on the Vietnam War, on Nixon, and on Enron, in the interests of restoring, continuity, security, and legitimacy." p. 280

"Sure, people still asked questions, but they were dismissed as conspiracy nuts. Not because they were wrong, but because nothing was going to change if they were right, so they were obsessing themselves with meaningless trivia, because truth upon which you cannot act is what trivia is." - p. 395 show less

A novel by Larry Beinhart, author of American Hero (filmed as Wag the Dog). I don't often read novels, but I couldn't resist this one, as it is a political thriller with a male librarian named David as the central character. Plus it takes place in and around Washington, D.C., which I visited while reading it.

While the story is set in the future, it's easy to link the characters to contemporary people. For instance, there's President Augustus Winthrop Scott, who's running for re-election. One of his major backers is Alan Stowe, an eccentric billionaire. Our librarian hero, David Goldberg, takes on the job of cataloging Stowe's personal library. Along the way he discovers secrets that could cause the President to lose the show more election.

Although the librarian's actions occasionally leap into the fantastic, it's fun to read as he uses his information skills and attempts to save the day. show less

This book was INSANELY over the top. But that's not always a bad thing. The story has a great start, but I felt the plot was rushed by the end. I guess the librarian in me wished for more talk of the collection he was archiving, but I don't see how that would have helped the slow-progressing plot.

Crazy stereotypical secret agents aside, the book did make a valuable point about the detriments of overabundant information sources:
"In the information age there is so much information that sorting and focus and giving the appropriate weight to anything have become incredibly difficult. Then some fact, or event, or factoid mysteriously captures the world's attention and there's a media frenzy [...] And everybody in the world knows everything show more about it. On the flip side are the Fog Facts, important things that nobody seems able to focus on any more than they can focus on a single droplet in the mist. They are known, but not known." (63)

My verdict: Good intent, not so good execution. show less

Very fun and very clever. How can you resist a swashbuckling librarian? Okay, scratch that--I'm not usually the swashbuckling type either. You'll just have to trust me, this one is a great read.

Synopsis:David Goldberg is a university librarian who, because of falling salaries and the likelihood of having his position cut, begins working for a billionaire who wants to preserve his place in history by developing a library of his personal papers. (think presidential library). While this seems innocuous enough, the job puts David at risk as well as exposing him to some of the most powerful politicos in the US.
Review: Written somewhat in the style of Carl Hiaasen, it has neither the subtly nor humor that is a hallmark of Hiaasen. Based on current political hijinks, the book doesn't even get interesting until chapter 27, then moves at a fairly good pace until the last chapter which is less than lame.