James P Reynolds

Hapworth 16, 1924 J.D. Salinger New Yorker Magazine, New York, June 19, 1965 This short story was the last piece of J.D. Salinger’s fiction published in his lifetime. Although Salinger tried to publish it outside of this New Yorker magazine, it was never included in any collection, except for pirate editions. Reviewers, both contemporary and [...]

The Plot Against America Philip Roth Houghton Mifflin, U.S.A. 2004 The Plot Against America is an alternative history novel in which antisemitic Charles Lindberg defeats Roosevelt in the 1940 U.S. presidential election. With a wry smile on his face, Roth denied allegations that this book is metaphoric of the George W. Bush presidency. The Plot [...]

The Piano Man’s Daughter Timothy Findley Harper Collins, Canada, 1995 Openly gay Canadian writer Timothy Findley was nominated for the Giller Prize for this novel, which was adapted into a made-for-TV movie in 2003. Ten years before this book was published, he was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada. He was a founding [...]

The In-Between World of Vikram Lall M. G. Vassanji Random House, Canada, 2003 M. G. Vassanji was born in Kenya, raised in Tunisia, and educated in the U.S. as a nuclear physicist. He moved to Canada in 1978 where he became interested in medieval Indian literature. In the 1980′s, he co-founded and edited a literary [...]

Mother’s Milk Edward St. Aubyn Open City Press, New York, 2005 Mother’s Milk was a finalist for the 2006 Booker Prize. It continues the story of Patrick Melrose, the protagonist from St. Aubyn’s trilogy Some Hope, although only loosely. It is a scathing and witty look at the shifting allegiances within a modern British family struggling [...]

Carry Me Down M.J. Hyland Canongate, U.K. 2006 When J.M. Coetzee writes your glowing dust jacket review, you know you have something special. And sure enough this is writing of the highest order. Carry Me Down is Hyland’s second novel. It was shortlisted for the 2006 Booker Prize and the 2007 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. It [...]

The Time in Between David Bergen McClelland and Stewart, Canada, 2005 This wonderful fourth novel by Canadian author David Bergen won the 2005 Giller Prize and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. It received a prestigious starred review from Kirkus Reviews. It was on the 2007 longlist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary [...]

Sacrament Dave Eggers McSweeney’s, U.S.A. 2003 Sacrament is basically Eggers’ previous novel You Shall Know Our Velocity with an extra section put in about two-thirds of the way through. The added 49 pages throw into question the reliability of the protagonist/narrator of You Shall Know Our Velocity. Eggers completely changes the context of the story. A neat [...]

The Cat’s Table Michael Ondaatje Jonathan Cape, U.K 2011 This mostly fictionalized memoir is Ondaatje’s most recent novel. It is about a boy named Michael who travels from Ceylon to England on an ocean liner to go and live with his mother. The Cat’s Table is the table furthest away from the captain’s table, where [...]

Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes J.D. Salinger New Yorker Magazine, New York, July 14, 1951 Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes is perhaps one of Salinger’s most ironic short stories. A man calls his older friend late at night, frantically worrying about the whereabouts of his young and pretty wife. The older man talks [...]