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World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family
World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family | Joshua Hanagarne
55 posts | 72 read | 84 to read
"Published in 2013 by arrangement with Gotham Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc."--Title page verso.
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bookishbitch
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Pickpick

I thought this was an interesting book. I was worried that the faith stuff might be annoying but it was fine. (I'm agnostic or an atheist, still figuring out which.) The way he gives his syndrome a persons name was interesting, and also familiar to many of us with a chronic illness. The name of the book comes from his blog of the same name. (Now defunct according to my web search.) Overall an interesting story and well presented.

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bookishbitch
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I just started this one and I really like it. I was worried the faith aspect would be annoying and so far it hasn't been.

17 likes1 stack add
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5feet.of.fury
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Pickpick

The author relates his life story. Starting as a young book worm who crushed on Ramona and snuck Stephen King books from the bookmobile, he begins to have symptoms of Tourette‘s Syndrome. Wholesome tales of his charming parents, trying to get girls &coming of age in the Mormon church ensue; his love of books &struggle with Tourette‘s follow him into his adult life as he tries to get an education, a career &start a family. Humorous & fascinating.

SRWCF Sounds interesting! 3y
27 likes1 stack add1 comment
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5feet.of.fury
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I was really dragging my feet to start this book, but it immediately hooked me. It‘s really funny, interesting and poignant. #audiowalk

EvieBee He is so endearing! 3y
5feet.of.fury @EvieBee he really is! I‘m loving it! 3y
24 likes2 comments
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LeslieO
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Books about libraries are my favorite genre! Here are some nonfiction from my collection. #Library #LitsySpringBreak

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Pretty 📚❤️ 4y
LeahBergen The big book on the right looks wonderful! 4y
TheKidUpstairs Great collection 4y
49 likes3 comments
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

This was a bit of a slow burn for me, but I especially enjoyed the last two chapters where Josh discussed his then current** crisis of faith in God and status of his Tourette‘s.

Josh grew up LDS in Utah and Nevada, the oldest of four kids. He loved to read. He developed Tourette‘s that was moderate until his mission at 19 when it became more severe. The book details his search for love, finding a career while disabled, and some serious work outs.

Megabooks **this book was published in 2012, so it‘s not super current anymore! #booked2021 #librarianintitle @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft 4y
Megabooks Book 2 #24in48 👍🏻👍🏻 4y
WanderingBookaneer This is still on my TBR! 4y
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Megabooks @WanderingBookaneer I‘ve had it for a few years, but I‘m glad I got to it! 4y
Come-read-with-me That‘s a spectacular cover! 4y
Cinfhen This book has been on my TBR for a long time too!! Do u think I‘d like it, Meg?? 4y
Linsy Loved this one! 4y
Megabooks @Cinfhen I think you would! #memoirgals 👯‍♀️ 4y
Megabooks @Linsy 👍🏻👍🏻 4y
Megabooks @Come-read-with-me it is!! I think that‘s what drew me to it. 4y
Cinfhen Cool 😎 🎧❣️😘 4y
126 likes4 stack adds11 comments
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Megabooks
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Reading in bed in the afternoon. Sigh. Wonderful. ❤️❤️

youneverarrived Enjoy 💕 4y
CoffeeAndABook Sounds perfectly cozy 🔥 4y
Megabooks @youneverarrived @CoffeeAndABook it was a nice break! 💜💜 4y
98 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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triplem80
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Pickpick

Not everything in this book resonated with me, but I could definitely relate to some of his tales of working in a public library!

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kyraleseberg
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Purchased this book at #DollarTree a couple years ago and am just now getting to it 🤦
I'm enjoying Hanagarne's story, especially conversations he's had with patrons at the SLC Public Library 😳

Megabooks I got it at Ollie‘s but haven‘t read it yet. 4y
kyraleseberg @Megabooks It's worth the read. Passionate discussion about the importance of libraries with fun patron stories thrown in and also insight into Tourette's and his religion. 4y
32 likes2 comments
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LiteraryLona
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Pickpick

Enjoying this one so far! 📚💪🏼

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Blueberry
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Pickpick

The story was mostly about the author's journeys with his religion and Tourette's.

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Blueberry
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Currently reading. 1st chapter....so far so good.

@NataliePatalie

Cathythoughts ♥️😂👏🏻👏🏻 5y
Smrloomis I loved this! Hope it continues to be good for you 🤞🏽 5y
Blueberry Chap. 2....starting to lose interest. 5y
47 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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PatienceFortitude
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Yet more books happened to me #librarianproblems #bookhaul

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PatienceFortitude
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School Library Journal Day of Dialog. Epic book haul. How am I going to haul these home? #librarianproblems #bookhaul

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BookmarkTavern
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It was a real treat to be able to listen to Mr Hanagarne speak while raising money for a truly amazing cause! #slc #slclitsy

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Ashley85
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At the library doing work while trying not to get distracted... 😫 #iwantallthebooks

introvertedbooks Hardest thing ever!! 6y
38 likes1 comment
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bibliobliss
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• Would someone like to buy this shirt for me? I‘ll take like, a dozen! 😝 Not even kidding! •

#wishlist #booknerd #wordnerd #nerdforlife #proudnerd #bookriot @bookriot

JoScho I want this too! 7y
33 likes1 stack add2 comments
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BookNerd1975
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Pickpick

Great read for book lovers!

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LiteraryinPA
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Pickpick

This was a highly readable memoir by a librarian with a fascinating backstory. His life is impacted by his Mormon upbringing, his constant battle with Tourette‘s, his love of reading, and his desire to challenge his 6‘7” body through extreme weight lifting. My assessment is that it was a great book to borrow from the library and not one I need to own.

ElishaLovesBooks Sounds fascinating! Stacked! 7y
RadicalReader @LiteraryinLititz I complete one hundred percent understand where you‘re coming from the good book to rent but not needing to own 7y
LeslieO I loved this one. And I do own it. As a librarian I enjoy owning a book with this title! 7y
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Eggs Sounds wonderful 7y
Zelma It‘s also a really good audiobook. The narrator describes some of his vocal tics and it was interesting to hear them. 7y
LiteraryinPA @Zelma Oh wow. That would definitely add an interesting layer to the story. 7y
103 likes7 stack adds6 comments
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kaykay521
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Pickpick

When Josh gets the shakes onstage during an elementary school play it's the beginning of a life long battle with Tourette Syndrome. Raised by parents that fostered his love of books (except maybe Stephen King 😂) Josh's memoir is funny, uplifting, and sometimes pretty sad. I found myself both laughing and crying throughout. A+ 😊

LiteraryinPA Fascinating premise! I've never heard of this one but will have to see if my library has it. 7y
60 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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kaykay521
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This is exactly how I feel 😂👍

Cortg True! 7y
49 likes1 stack add1 comment
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kaykay521
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Upstate South Carolina Mystery or thriller Paperback definitely. In my bed

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kaykay521
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Look what I found at Kmart y'all 😍📚.

TheWordJar 😍😍😍 7y
NeeSwee I have that puzzle and it's great!! 7y
AmyG That is awesome!!! 7y
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ValerieAndBooks Oh, how fun 😍! 7y
minkyb Nice! 7y
Blueberry My Kmart closed a few years ago. 7y
LauraBrook I miss Kmart, the ones by me all closed. Looks like an excellent puzzle! 7y
Cortg I might have to make a trip. I love this! 7y
DivineDiana Love this! 7y
58 likes9 comments
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kaykay521
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My current TBR pile! 😍❤️📚🎉

queerbookreader That Star Trek book is A+ but extreme heads up for spoilers if you haven't watched every series all the way through 7y
IMASLOWREADER loved lord of the flies...sucks to your assmar (from the simpsons episode lol) 7y
50 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Laura317
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Pickpick

A quick, fun book. I learned at lot about Tourette Syndrome, Mormonism, libraries and weight training. ⭐️⭐️⭐️Not fantastic, but good. Worth the reading if you happen across it.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Sounds interesting and fun... 7y
Laura317 @Riveted_Reader_Melissa It was. I'll send it to you if you'd like. 7y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Laura317 Thank you for the offer, I checked and it looks like my local library has it so I'll check it out there and save you some postage, but I really appreciate the offer. 7y
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Lacythebookworm The author spoke at our state library conference a couple years ago. His story is definitely inspiring! 7y
Graciouswarriorprincess I am glad that you liked it. 7y
Zelma I listened to this on audio and liked it. Very odd mix of topics, but interesting nonetheless. @Lacythebookworm if you like audiobooks, this is a good one to listen to. (edited) 7y
Smrloomis I loved this and have to agree with @Zelma - it's a weird mix that somehow worked. 7y
kspenmoll I enjoyed this when I read it too! 7y
68 likes1 stack add8 comments
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Laura317
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Wow! This book is killing me on so many levels. Are libraries dying out because of the Internet age? I hope not!

Laura317 @sarahreadsbookstoomuch I am glad to hear it! I stacked the book. Thanks for the recommendation. 7y
JanuarieTimewalker13 No way. There a so many people who use my library system. I really hope that's not true. 7y
Graciouswarriorprincess No and I am glad. 7y
Zelma No but budgets are certainly getting smaller. My last library had to fight every year or more to keep it's budget from being slashed or outright stolen by the city. It was exhausting. 7y
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Laura317
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I love the library!!

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Laura317
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Starting this today. Another #DollarTree find.

Graciouswarriorprincess This was a good book. Enjoy! 7y
Laura317 @Graciouswarriorprincess So far I am loving it. 7y
Graciouswarriorprincess @Laura317 Fabulous!👍🏻😉📚 7y
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janeycanuck
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Pickpick

I've been on a trend lately where I seem to enjoy the first half of a memoir but not the second. This one was the same... I enjoyed hearing more about Josh's childhood and growing up than I did about when he got into weights. But I'm not really interested in weight lifting so that's not really a surprise.

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Luv2readbookz
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I checked out a couple of books at the library where I volunteer. I retuned a bunch of books at a neighboring library (whole different system). I checked the book drop this morning and found one of my books I mistakenly returned to the other library. Oops. Btw, it was due today! 😂😂😂

JacintaMCarter I check out books from five different libraries, so I always put a sticky note with the library name inside the front cover so I know where to return it. 7y
Luv2readbookz @JacintaMCarter Great idea. I usually mark it in my planner what books go where (I borrow from multiple libraries too) but I totally forgot to mark this one down. I'll have to try your idea. Thanks. 💕 7y
21 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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janeycanuck
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A dog schmucked up beside me, a blanket and a cup of tea is #howiread #riotgrams

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janeycanuck
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Getting a slow start on #riotgrams with my #shelfie... my TBR/children's/travel, non-fic and fiction shelves!

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The.Intentional.Reader
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Some of my public library 📚 stacks. I love libraries!

11 likes1 comment
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EvieBee
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Today's #muscles challenge was harder than I imagined! Had to turn to my audible books for help. #aprilbookshowers

RealLifeReading Good one! 8y
KerriNTurner Good choice though! 8y
74 likes4 stack adds3 comments
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LeslieO
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Prairiegirl_reading Saw this post and ordered this today! It sounds amazing!! 8y
LeslieO @Prairiegirl_reading It was so good! 8y
Prairiegirl_reading I have to wait until the 13th! 😩 8y
Krisjericho Loved this book. 8y
47 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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readswellwithothers
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Balance. #bookriot

Suzze I didn't realize that, as a bookseller, I spent my day carrying piles and boxes of books. When I retired I gained weight immediately. 😜😜 8y
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Shay
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Resolved to #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks this year. First up, a memoir by a weight-lifting librarian with Tourette Syndrome.

6 likes1 stack add
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saguarosally
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So far, an intriguing memoir. Waiting for the weightlifting! #librarianmemoirs

PrincessLibrarian I picked this up at the Dollar Tree! Eager to hear your thoughts. 8y
EvieBee I enjoyed this one! Hope you like it. 8y
ValerieAndBooks Definitely looks intriguing! 8y
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saguarosally @EvieBee84 Liking it so far! 8y
saguarosally @ValerieAndBooks I picked it up at Dollar Tree maybe a month ago. They might still be there? 8y
ValerieAndBooks I'll have to see if our local one has it (or any other good titles), thanks for the tip! 8y
saguarosally @PrincessLibrarian Will do. One thing I thought of though, he's definitely an ex-Mormon. He seems respectful of the religion, but definitely not a current follower. 8y
Zelma This one was such an odd memoir but quite good. I listened to it on audio and really liked the experience. The narrators sounds out the author's tics and says to just keep imagining them periodically unless he mentions otherwise. 8y
saguarosally @Zelma That's also in the book. I still find it difficult to imagine. 8y
35 likes4 stack adds9 comments
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neet_reads
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Take life one cup at a time - T2

Reviewsbylola Great bookmark!! 8y
Sydsavvy I do loved this book! 8y
13 likes1 stack add2 comments
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MrBook
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#TheOmnivorousBookClub just met as well! This is only a third of the members that showed up today. Most everyone wore red ?. This was "Favorite Book Read In 2016". Titles included: Bastard Out Of Carolina
West With the Night
The World's Strongest Librarian
Nectar In the Sieve
I'm Thinking Of Ending Things
Hillbilly Elegy
A Tale For the Time Being
The Dinner
I Hate My Neck
Before the Fall
All Souls
Bird Box
Winter Garden ???????

Moray_Reads Quite a range! I just read Bastard Out of Carolina today 8y
kspenmoll This book was great; his website too. 8y
LitsyGoesPostal 😎👍🏻 8y
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BookBabe 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 8y
MrBook @Moray_Reads Oh, nice! Yeah, it is quite a range, and this year seemed to be the year of the memoir 😊👍🏻. @kspenmoll 😁👏🏻🙌🏻! I'll have to check his site out! @kristina_with_a_k 😁👍🏻! @BookBabe 😍😍😍 8y
ApoptyGina69 That would have been fun! I've read 5 on that list and have several others on my #TBR. 8y
MrBook @ApoptyGina69 Show off 😜😆👏🏻🙌🏻! 8y
132 likes5 stack adds8 comments
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Krisjericho
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Pickpick

I love this book #setinalibrary. I picked it up for one of my reading challenges (a character who has the same job as you), not realizing he worked at the Salt Lake library, half an hour from me. He also wrote about his struggles with the Mormon faith and his Tourette's syndrome. I liked it so much I sent the author a friend request on Facebook. Turns out we have five mutual friends. 😄He accepted. #seasonsreadings2016

jessicarenee That's so cool! 8y
LauraBrook Awesome!!! 👍🏼 8y
33 likes7 stack adds2 comments
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Aseleener
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Two-thirds of the way through this and loving it. #funfridayphoto #favoritememoirs #nonfiction #nonfictionnovember

ReadingOver50 Sounds interesting 😄 8y
EvieBee Loved this one! 8y
34 likes5 stack adds2 comments
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Jennick2004
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Bought these at the dollar store today...either one familiar?

wen4blu I enjoyed the audio version of World's Strongest Librarian. 8y
Kathrin I also listens to the World Strongest Librarian and I liked it! 8y
Jennick2004 Yay 😁 8y
25 likes3 comments
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stacybmartin
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Pickpick

Apparently this book was based off a blog by the author. He writes of how he has dealt with being diagnosed with Tourette's, from childhood to problems with trying to finish college, dealing with his faith, and finding his path in life.

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readswellwithothers
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One of my favorite memoirs this year - excellent on audio! - and a story I always have in mind when I lift. The book in the pic is a workout journal, but it totally counts! 🏋📖

DivineDiana Fascinating! 8y
Claireluana That's a lot of weight! 😳 (cute pup btw! springer?) 8y
9 likes2 comments
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Mindyrecycles
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"And yet, for all my book lust, I didn't know what true mania was until we brought home Charlotte's Web and the After Fern era began." Mania! Charlotte's Web is surely deserving. I didn't love everything about the World's Strongest Librarian, but I gloried in his descriptions of his lifelong passion for books.

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Krisjericho
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I'm about halfway through this book, and I think I need to be the author's best friend. He works at a library (so do I), in Utah (ditto), and is a former Mormon (hand raised here). He also loved Sweet Valley High, so, bonus. 😂 Of course, he also has Tourette's and can deadlift 600 pounds, but those are just minor details when we both were a little in love with Ramona Quimby.

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Mindyrecycles
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Today I canned veggie broth and strawberry jelly while I listened to World's Strongest Librarian. I really like it so far. The author is funny and smart and he starts each chapter with where its topic is in the Dewey Decimal system. Haha

23 likes3 stack adds