Librarians are the guardians of free speech, right? But what happens when you have a syndrome that makes speaking difficult or, at times, even impossible? Josh Hanagarne began showing signs of Tourette’s syndrome as a young boy. While there is no known cure for the neurological disorder, many people are able to manage its symptoms with medication. But not Josh; none of the drugs on the market worked for him, and so he turned to other methods. Specifically, he took up strength training, which, while it was good for him and made him stronger every day, didn’t really alleviate his Tourette’s. In his brave and funny memoir, The World’s Strongest Librarian (Gotham, June), Josh uses the Dewey decimal system to guide us through the ups and downs of battling Tourette’s. Ultimately, it’s his love of books and libraries that leads Josh to a kind of truce with his disease, and, in the process, he shows us the lovely, crazy, and occasionally sad day-to-day life of a city librarian. Read this book and go hug a librarian!

Anne Holman, The King’s English Bookstore, Salt Lake City, Utah