Gail Crowther's recently published The Haunted Reader and Sylvia Plath (Stroud: Fonthill Media, 2017) is a book I hope many people buy and read. As I was a participant in the book, I do not feel comfortable reviewing it. I do, however, feel I can promote it. The Haunted Reader is about Sylvia Plath, but also about her readers. I think in the stories Gail collected and tells, that each one of us may find a similar thing happened when you first started reading Sylvia Plath. And the wonderful thing is, even with those similarities there are more than likely significant differences in how each of us came to Plath and how we all read and react to her work.
When Gail's first book, Sylvia Plath in Devon: A Year's Turning came out I took a copy of the book all around Boston and Wellesley with me photographing it in various places and situations. I decided to do the same with her recent work, though scaled back just a bit.
Here is Gail's book hanging out with some friends.
The Haunted Reader and Sylvia Plath considered going into the Christian Science Church, but in the end the day was too nice not to be outside.
However it was not nice enough outside to deny ourselves some refreshments -- a nice French Roast coffee, black and scalding just like Plath liked it, and a chocolate chip cookie -- at Oakleaf Cakes on Westland Avenue.
In the process of wandering around Boston's Back Bay and Fenway area, I discovered that her publisher Fonthill had already embarked on a massive promotional campaign for the book, in advance of its scheduled availablity in the US on Amazon.com on 21 April 2017.
Here is a big poster on a brick wall near the Berklee College of Music, which is home to the worst-dressed college students in the country. Thank goodness Plath is classing it up a bit with her awesomeness.
Not to be outdone, the cover was screen-printed to cover twenty or so stories of the south-west facing side of the John Hancock Tower.
All frivolity aside, Gail's book is a unique approach to Sylvia Plath and I hope you enjoy it.
All links accessed 21 March 2017.
When Gail's first book, Sylvia Plath in Devon: A Year's Turning came out I took a copy of the book all around Boston and Wellesley with me photographing it in various places and situations. I decided to do the same with her recent work, though scaled back just a bit.
Here is Gail's book hanging out with some friends.
The Haunted Reader and Sylvia Plath considered going into the Christian Science Church, but in the end the day was too nice not to be outside.
However it was not nice enough outside to deny ourselves some refreshments -- a nice French Roast coffee, black and scalding just like Plath liked it, and a chocolate chip cookie -- at Oakleaf Cakes on Westland Avenue.
In the process of wandering around Boston's Back Bay and Fenway area, I discovered that her publisher Fonthill had already embarked on a massive promotional campaign for the book, in advance of its scheduled availablity in the US on Amazon.com on 21 April 2017.
Here is a big poster on a brick wall near the Berklee College of Music, which is home to the worst-dressed college students in the country. Thank goodness Plath is classing it up a bit with her awesomeness.
Not to be outdone, the cover was screen-printed to cover twenty or so stories of the south-west facing side of the John Hancock Tower.
All frivolity aside, Gail's book is a unique approach to Sylvia Plath and I hope you enjoy it.
All links accessed 21 March 2017.