Librarians - Heroes of the New Generation by Mobie Drake

Thanks to the New York Times

Title: Librarians - Heroes of the New Generation 

Author: Mobie Drake 

Publisher: not known 

Source book: The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next #7)

In the Thursday Next universe SLS, Special Library Service, were the most respected law enforcement group in the nation, they took over when SO-27 was disbanded. They often featured in movies, had their own TV series and recruitment was never a problem. An elite force charged with protecting the nation’s literary heritage. A bit like NCIS perhaps. Oh wait, with a lot more books.

You can tell Thursday Next lives in an alternate universe/reality to us. You can’t really imagine a book called Librarians - Heroes of the New Generation in our universe, certainly not in the U.K. where the Conservative government [this post was written in 2023] seems determined to rid the country of libraries. And taking a step back, in what respect are Thursday’s librarians such heroes? Have I missed an important plot point? Are they helping children to read, or could it be that they are searching, in a heroic fashion, for the Spear of Destiny or something?

Also featured is a book called Wanda Does Wantage. The Swindon Society of Bowdlerisers are keen to get their mits on this one to remove “certain passages” so that it might be more suitable for family audiences. Hmmn… Thursday and I can’t help feeling there won’t be much left once all the unsuitable passages have been removed. 

There’s also a book of recipes by Gerald of Wales, written in the twelfth century. Apparently celebrity chefs were just as popular then as now, and there’s an account of a night out in Copenhagen in 1182 with Saxo Grammaticus. Not sure who wrote about that, but I’m sure it was a lot of fun.

This is one of my bookshelves