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Ploughshares is the award-winning non-profit literary magazine based at Emerson College in Boston. Most of our print issues are guest-edited, and our mission is to present varying viewpoints. Our blog is an extension of our print publication, and so we feature writing from guest-bloggers. We present their opinions to our readers in order to foster a lively discussion, but do not necessarily endorse all viewpoints published on our blog.
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Tag Archives: Book Reviews
Blurbese: “deeply felt”
In general, I dislike curmudgeonly fiats contra adverb—in fact, I’ve complained about them here before. However, there are a couple of cases where I think specific adverbs ought to be banned outright. One of those is the book review phrase … Continue reading
The Immanence of God in the Tropics
The Immanence of God in the Tropics George Rosen Leapfrog Press, September 2012 167 pages $15.95 George Rosen performs a neat, almost anachronistic trick in his new book of seven stories, The Immanence of God in the Tropics: he plays it straight. When … Continue reading
Madness, Rack, and Honey
Madness, Rack, And Honey: Collected Lectures Mary Ruefle Wave Books, August 2012 327 pages $25.00 Dear Dr. Poetry, I’ve been hiding my poetry for 3 years now, and I’m dying to finally tell my family I’m a poet. But there’s … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Book Reviews, Dear Dr. Poetry, Mary Ruefle, Shannon Wagner, Wave Books
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Another Insane Devotion
Another Insane Devotion Peter Trachtenberg Da Capo Press, November 2012 304 pages $24.00 Paul Leyhausen calls cats’ ‘gifts’ of dead mice and birds as treating their owners like deputy kittens—as if they think we are pathetic creatures who can’t take … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Another Insane Devotion, Book Reviews, Cats, Da Capo Press, Peter Trachtenberg
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Blurbese: Direct Quotations
If you happened to read more than one review of J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy last month, you’ll never look at a condom the same way again. That’s because of a single line from the book, which the New York … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Blurbese, Book Reviews, J.K. Rowling, John Updike, Michiko Kakutani, Picked-Up Pieces, The Casual Vacancy, The Da Vinci Code
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Lost Classics: Equal Danger
Equal Danger Leonardo Sciascia New York Review of Books Classics, October 2003 152 pages $14.00 [Editor’s note: Every few months, Akshay Ahuja will dig into the archives for an old book that has either fallen out of favor or never … Continue reading
The Neruda Case
The Neruda Case Roberto Ampuero Riverhead, June 2012 352 pages $26.95 Pablo Neruda has a problem: he’s ancient and dying of cancer, but he yearns for an ex-lover who may—or may not—have given birth to a long-lost daughter. As he … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Book Reviews, fiction, Greg Walkin, Iowa, Pablo Neruda, Roberto Ampuero, The Neruda Case
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Four New Messages
Four New Messages Joshua Cohen Graywolf Press, August 2012 208 Pages $14.00 One may as well begin, before getting to the ignoble task of judgment, with the facts: Four New Messages is a collection of stories by Joshua Cohen, who, … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Book Reviews, Four New Messages, Graywolf Press, internet, Joshua Cohen, short story collection
1 Comment
Blurbese: “a _____ debut”
Book reviewers generally frown on unnecessary adjectives. Precisely how they frown depends on the situation, but you can bet if an author’s use of adjectives comes up in a review it’s not as a compliment. If a book is filled … Continue reading
Birds of a Lesser Paradise
Birds of a Lesser Paradise Megan Mayhew Bergman Scribner, March 2012 $24.00 240 pages In the twelve stories in Megan Mayhew Bergman’s debut collection, the past is always present. Children live in the failing light of dying parents. Lovers make … Continue reading
