When I told people I was reading a memoir by a Morman weight-lifting librarian with Tourettes Syndrome, I got some pretty quizzical looks. And that’s understandable; there are a lot of ways a memoir that tells so many different stories could go awry. But Josh Hangarne isn’t tempted by any of the paths that lead memoirists astray, making The World’s Strongest Librarian one of the most engaging memoirs I’ve read in a long time.
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True story: I bribed a librarian (after a brief conversation about my general reading interests) to constantly stick new/interesting things in my hold queue. Best. Thing. Ever. It’s like Netflix for the library, now!
Around Here | I’ve been going through a lot of older blog posts lately during my prep for podcast episodes and realized that I miss being able to check in via these weekly-ish Currently posts. They’re nice little snapshots of a given moment, and fun to come across when I’m looking for a particular review [...]
Whew, October. It was a big, busy month that seemed like it flew past me with great speed. Thinking about Nonfiction November must have gotten me excited, because a good chunk of my reading this month was already nonfiction. I kicked off October with three great true stories, and managed to finish plenty during the Readathon [...]
Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon is coming! The Readathon is probably my favorite day of the whole year. There’s nothing more indulgent or nerdy that sitting down to read for an entire day with the rest of the bookish Internet. To get ready, I’ve been focusing on my five major strategies for Readathon success — choosing short [...]
Life moves fast, doesn’t it? I feel like I just got home from BookExpo 2017 in New York City, but looking at my calendar I can see that it was almost two weeks ago — I guess that’s what traveling will do to you! BookExpo, for those who aren’t familiar, is an annual conference for [...]
It’s no secret that I love to make book lists… sometimes even more than I love reading books on those book lists. Today I wanted to share some of the places I go to get ideas for my book lists as as well as where I look for recommendations for new, excellent nonfiction. None of these are [...]
The first archaeologist that comes to mind for me is Indiana Jones. The second is Amelia Peabody, the quirky Egyptologist made famous by author Elizabeth Peters. While there are some nuggets of truth about what it means to be an archaeologist in both of those pop culture portrayals, the real lives of the people who [...]
December Redniss, Lauren: Radioactive (nonfiction) Marion, Isaac: Warm Bodies (YA fiction/audio book) Rowell, Rainbow: Fangirl (YA fiction) Shakespeare, Nicholas: Priscilla (nonfiction) DuBois, Jennifer: Cartwheel (fiction) November Kramon, Justin: The Preservationist (fiction) Kerman, Piper: Orange is the New Black (memoir) Roiphe, Katie: In Praise of Messy Lives (essays) Thompson, Clive: Smarter Than You Think (nonfiction) Wecker, Helene: The Golem and the Jinni (fiction) October Fink, Sheri: Five Days at Memorial (nonfiction) Goodyear, Dana: Anything That Moves (nonfiction) Sokolove, Michael: Drama High (nonfiction) [...]
I had another really full month of reading in May. I finished 12 books, a pretty good mix of nonfiction, fiction and young adult books. I’m not feeling super chatty today, so let’s just get into the books! Books Read in May Hanagarne, Josh: The World’s Strongest Librarian (memoir) Chabon, Michael: Telegraph Avenue (fiction) Winder, Elizabeth: Pain, Parties, and Work (nonfiction) [...]
