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The Ploughshares blog is published by Ploughshares, the award-winning literary magazine based at Emerson College in Boston. We aim to engage with the literary community and foster lively, but respectful, discussion through regularly updated news, guest posts, reviews, and fresh points of view. We encourage you to respond to posts in the comments, but please follow our Rules of Use.
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Category Archives: Book Reviews
The Why of Things
The Why of Things Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop Simon & Schuster, June 2013 320 pages $24.99 I can’t decide whether to be furious with Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop’s new novel, The Why of Things, or to admire it. In some ways, it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Book Reviews, Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop, red herrings, The Why of Things
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The Other Typist
The Other Typist Suzanne Rindell Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, May 2013 368 pages $25.95 The Other Typist, a crime mystery nestled inside a lovely period piece, is the story of Rose Baker, a stenographer at a Manhattan police station in the … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged 1920s, Baz Luhrmann, modernist literature, Suzanne Rindell, The Great Gatsby, The Other Typist
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Pink Reef
Pink Reef Robert Fernandez Canarium Books, April 2013 96 pages $14.00 I brought this along on a recent visit to my doctor, just in case there was a wait; as it turned out, I read the whole book and started … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged A Season In Hell, Canarium Books, Paul Scott Stanfield, Pink Reef, Rilke, Rimbaud, Robert Fernandez, Sonnets to Orpheus, Steve Reich
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The World’s Strongest Librarian
The World’s Strongest Librarian Josh Hanagarne Gotham Books, May 2013 304 pages $26.00 Josh Hanagarne’s first book, The World’s Strongest Librarian, has so many different hooks it’s enough to make a publisher weep with joy. A 6’7”, weightlifting librarian? Sold. … Continue reading
Not Unlike…
The Explosions Mathias Svalina Subito Press, December 2012 136 pages $16.00 [Note: P. Scott Stanfield holds a Ph.D. in English and teaches literature at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Recently, I challenged him to see how many references to other works and … Continue reading
Ru
Ru Kim Thúy (translated by Sheila Fischman) Bloomsbury USA, November 2012 160 pages $14.00 Nguyễn An Tinh was born into a wealthy Saigon family during the Tet Offensive, “when the long chains of firecrackers draped in front of houses exploded … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Kim Thuy, Montreal, Ru, Saigon, Sheila Fischman, Tet Offensive
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The Fall of the Stone City
[Editor's note: this post was contributed by Joshua Garstka.] The Fall of the Stone City Ismail Kadare (translated by John Hodgson) Grove Press, February 2013 168 pages $23.00 Gjirokastër was not as wise as it should have been. Or perhaps … Continue reading
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Tagged Albania, Ismail Kadare, John Hodgman, The Fall of the Stone City, World War II
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The Story of My Purity
The Story of My Purity Francesco Pacifico Farrar, Straus and Giroux, March 2013 304 pages $26.00 I don’t know much about providence, but it seems extraordinarily lucky that Francisco Pacifico’s first novel to make it into English translation—a ribald picaresque … Continue reading
Petrarchan
This post contributed by Anne Champion. Petrarchan Kristina Marie Darling BlazeVOX Books, 2013 69 pages $16.00 Kristina Marie Darling’s accolades already include eleven books of poetry, and her newest collection, Petrarchan, keeps up with this furious creative momentum. In Darling’s … Continue reading
Dear Dr. Poetry
Sacrilegion L. Lamar Wilson Carolina Wren Press, February 2013 $17.95 79 pages Dear Dr. Poetry, I don’t expect you to understand me, because no one does. My sorrow is darker than a thousand layers of guyliner. I just wanted you, … Continue reading
