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Joshua Isard

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://joshuaisard.com

Twitter

joshuaisard

Genre

Fiction

Member Since

August 2013

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/joshuaisard

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Joshua Isard grew up in the Philadelphia area, earned his BA in English at Temple University, and then went on to study creative writing at the University of Edinburgh and literature at University College London.

His short stories have appeared in The Broadkill Review, Press 1, Northwind, and Storychord, and his first novel, Conquistador of the Useless, is now available from Cinco Puntos Press. He is currently the director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Arcadia University in Glenside, PA. He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife, newborn daughter, and two cats.

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Popular Answered Questions

I just heard you on Book Fight discussing The Finkler Question. You said that the notion of anyone wanting to become a Jew was ridiculous (I may be paraphrasing). Did you mean in general, or just as it relates to that book's characters? I can understand the absurdity of wanting to become a Finkler since he is an ill-chosen representative of Judaism, but do you think the few converts to Judaism are also laughable?

Joshua Isard I definitely would not call one who converts to Judaism "laughable." I think it's important to take my comments in the context of the self-deprecating…moreI definitely would not call one who converts to Judaism "laughable." I think it's important to take my comments in the context of the self-deprecating tone of Jacobson's novel, and the humor of the Book Fight podcast. In that respect, there is a certain absurdity in choosing to join arguably the most hated and persecuted group of people in the history of human civilization.

In a more general context, there are lots of people who convert to Judaism for excellent and genuine reasons—they are and should be welcome as members of the culture. And, of course, there's a lot more to Judaism than only the history of persecution, a lot that I'm proud of as someone born into Judaism, and which any convert can also be proud of.

So, yes, please take the comments in the context of a commentary on the novel, and the tone of a funny and entertaining podcast.(less)

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Joshua Isard’s books

Average rating: 3.84 · 79 ratings · 19 reviews · 2 distinct works

	Conquistador of the Useless 3.77 avg rating — 73 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hunger: The Best of Brilliant Flash Fiction 2014-2019 by Dawn Lowe (Editor), Ed Higgins (Editor), Ingrid Anders (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2019	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

36 posts
Joshua Isard's Blog

Writer's Influence, Social Media, & Self Awareness

Check out this post on my Medium site:

https://medium.com/@JoshuaIsard/write...

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Published on January 18, 2016 11:01

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Quotes by Joshua Isard (?)

“Organizing the books was a fun afternoon. We decided to put the thick hardback books, mostly intro. to philosophy textbooks and Norton literature anthologies, on the top shelves where they looked good but stayed out of reach since there's no reason for opening them ever again. Then we went by genre: mysteries, cozies, modernists, mountains, sci-fi, beloved childhood volumes, books we bought abroad, books required in school we couldn't sell back, books bought for us we'll read soon, books bought for us we have no intention of reading, books we want to read but are too long for a commitment with our current schedules...We're not really done with this organization, and I doubt we ever will be, but that's one great part about it.”
― Joshua Isard, Conquistador of the Useless

tags: biblioholic, library, marriage, mingled-libraries, tsundoku

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“The stupa is a white dome with a conical stone tower emerging from its center. There are two eyes painted on the tower, the all seeing eyes of Buddha. They're purple, and look a little sinister, like an Old Testament Buddha.”
― Joshua Isard, Conquistador of the Useless

tags: buddha, buddhism, kathmandu, nepal, travel, ugly-american-syndrome

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