Today, I promised to give you a list of all of the books mentioned in The World’s Strongest Librarian (2013) by Josh Hanagarne. I also promised to give away a copy of the book. I used random.org to generate a number and picked the winner by the entry number.
The winner of the giveaway is Denise McNichols! I’ll get your copy of Josh’s book in the mail to you in the next few days. Congratulations!
Before I get to the books mentioned in the memoir, I wanted to make you aware of some of the amazing press Josh has been getting for his book. He’s been mentioned in Oprah’s magazine, chosen on Goodreads as part of May 2013 Movers and Shakers, is on the Ibookstore Best Books of May page, and is featured as part of the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers series of Summer 2013. The book was released on May 2 and is now going into its second printing! Here are some links to other articles by and about Josh in anticipation of his book’s release.
About Josh
USA Today: “Strongest Librarian” Does Battle against Tourette’s
The New Yorker: “The World’s Strongest Librarian” Tells All
Written by Josh (These stories brought tears to my eyes!)
Publishers Weekly: How Becoming a Librarian Saved Me
Huffington Post: The Bookstore that Changed My Life
The Books Mentioned
Here is a list of the books Josh mentions in his memoir. I’ve read 21 of them, some because Josh suggested them to me. I’ve also linked the ones I’ve written about to other posts on my blog.
The War Prayer by Mark Twain (X)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Roughing It by Mark Twain
No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
Discrete Series by George Oppen
The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Cell by Stephen King
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
It by Stephen King
Misery by Stephen King
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (X)
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
Maus by Art Spiegelman
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (X)
“A Hanging” by George Orwell
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (X)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O’Toole (X)
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (X)
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (X)
Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary (X)
And Eternity by Piers Anthony
The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (X)
The Holy Bible (X)
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White (X)
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Far Side comics by Gary Larson (X)
Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie (X)
The Harvard Classics
The Autogiography of Benvenuto Cellini by Benvenuto Cellini
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (X)
Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us by Robert D. Hare
Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (X)
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
Black’s Law Dictionary
“Invictus” by William Henley (X)
A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer (X)
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Witch in the Bedroom: Proven Sensual Magic by Stacey Demarco
Accepting the Psychic Torch by Sylvia Browne
The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon
Tawny Scrawny Lion by Kathryn Jackson
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman (X)
Mr. Gopher by unknown (Josh can’t find any record of this book existing, but he remembers it!)
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (X)
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
The Great Brain by John Dennis Fitzgerald
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (X)
No! That’s Wrong! By Zhaohua Ji and Cui Xu
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (X)
The Color of Her Panties by Piers Anthony
Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal (and ghostwriters)
It is a great (and interesting) list of books! Some of them are meant to be humorous. Have you read any of them? I think I need to add Witch in the Bedroom: Proven Sensual Magic and Black’s Law Dictionary to my list!
Have a good weekend, all!
The Bookshelf of Emily J. 
Good post. Thanks for the links to other articles. I’m hoping an article I wrote about Josh and his book will get published in Lemonade Magazine soon. He isn’t well known in UK so I was hoping to bring his book some publicity this way! 🙂
Hurray! How cool! I’d love to see it when it is published. I’m sure Josh would, too.
Love lists of good books
I feel like I’ve been posting a lot of them lately, but they are so fun!
Wow, I’m so excited I won this book! Thank you so much! I love the above list of books and I’ve read 16 of them, several others are on my infamous to-read-list that may or may not ever be accomplished, and several others I’ve never heard of. This is a fun Friday post, not just because I won (yay!) but also because the list is a fun one. I can’t wait to read The World’s Strongest Librarian and will now be eagerly checking my mail. Thank you!
I’m glad you won, too! So fun. You will for sure have to let me know what you think of the book once it’s read. And it IS a fun list of books! He’s a playful and skilled writer as well.
Great post on your friend! Do you know if he is scheduled in Utah for a book signing?
Yes, he will be at the SLC downtown branch in the auditorium on May 16 at 7 p.m. He will also be at an SLC bookstore on May 30. The details are on his blog.
Thank you for the post, so many goodies to add to my own list!
You are most welcome!
I was looking for inspiration for my summer reading! Gonna try to get all these books read!
Wow! Impressive goal!
Reblogged this on Adithya Entertainment.
Thanks! 🙂
wlcum
I might have to copy this list and add them to my to read list. I’ve read some of the (Child Called It was heart-breaking, and I read it quite young, I’m making my way through Stephen King’s novels, Choke and American Gods are brilliant) and others are ones I’ve always thought “I should really read that.” This list might be a good reminder. My mum tried to get me to read Flowers in the Attic, but I was really young at the time and almost too disturbed just by the first couple of pages to read on. From what I heard after, reading the rest might have scarred me for life at that point. It’s one I really should try again though. Thanks for posting the list, and reminding me exactly how many books I really do need to read!
How cool that you have such a connection to so many titles! I do want to try American Gods and Flowers in the Attic. I never read that one either as a child, but it sounds like a winner. There are always so many books to be reading!
American Gods is really good. Gaiman has a brilliant style, and it’s a really interesting take on gods and magic.
I, too, checked out the list, and I have read these two books as well. American Gods was a college reading assignment w/i the last 2 years, and Flowers in the Attic I read long ago. I wanted to dislike American Gods because the topics were about magic and gods, and I usually refuse to read those subjects – staying away on purpose, believing I shouldn’t read them due to my Christian beliefs. It turns out the book was fascinating. That makes me feel guilty.
I’ve read many of the Steven King and Mark Twain books, Beverly McCleary, and others on his list. You’ve read some that I have not. Josh certainly has a mishmash of books on his list – I guess since they must be across his whole life, as a child and adult. Since I have children and grandchildren, I’ve hit most of the young selections.
Vickie, I’m glad you weighed in! I can see your angst over American Gods, but sometimes I’ve noticed that many religions and magical traditions have the same themes with variations. To me, sometimes those ideas help to strengthen my own Christian beliefs and faith. I hope that makes sense. Anyway, your comments make me want to read it even more! And yes, the books on the list cover from childhood on up. It is fun to read about how his tastes change as he ages.
Great list. I greatly appreciate your sharing his story. It shows how people can live with the physical and mental challenges in our world. Well done. Thanks, BTG
I think everybody faces challenges, so when we hear a story like his, we can have the strength to keep going with our own. These sorts of stories are inspiring to me. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for the list. Some are known and classics to me others are not. I will have fun checking them out. Thanks again.
You are welcome. I always think lists of books are fun and a good way to see new titles or ones we may have overlooked.