Susan Choi Recommends a Book So Engrossing It Made Her (Almost) Lose Her Luggage
Welcome to Shelf Life,
What began as a short story in
The New Yorker
is now Susan Choi's sixth and latest novel,
The Indiana-born, Texas-raised, New York-based bestselling author studied literature at Yale University; was once
The New Yorker
and co-edited
Likes:
theater;
Dislikes:
Good at:
rocking her
Bad at:
cleaning menorahs; coming up with
Scroll through the reads she recommends below.
The book that…:
…made me miss a train stop:
It's not exactly a missed-the-train moment, but I was re-reading
…made me weep uncontrollably:
Philip Roth's
…I recommend over and over again:
Jenny Erpenbeck's
…I swear I'll finish one day:
All of Proust. Or even just some decent amount of Proust. I love the prose but also find it so exquisite it's almost unbearable to continue reading for any length of time, at least for me, which makes me feel like a total failure as a reader. I might have to set aside a year of my life just to read Proust.
...I read in one sitting; it was that good:
Sarah Moss's
…currently sits on my nightstand:
…made me laugh out loud:
Paul Beatty's
…has a sex scene that will make you blush:
In Francisco Goldman's
...I've re-read the most:
...makes me feel seen:
looking
at me, like it knew exactly who I was. The protagonist has, like me, a real culture-clash background, and up to the point in my life when I read the book—the '90s—I'd never encountered that in fiction, so it was very emotional when I finally did.
...everyone should read:
...I could only have discovered at
...fills me with hope:
Everything by
elating
observer of us humans and the strange things we do.
Bonus questions:
If I could live in any library or bookstore in the world, it would be:
The literary organization/charity I support:
Read Susan Choi's Book Recommendations
Lolita
by Vladimir Nabokov
Now 24% Off
Credit: Vintage
Everyman
by Philip Roth
Now 12% Off
Credit: Vintage
Visitation
by Jenny Erpenbeck
Now 66% Off
Credit: New Directions
Ghost Wall
by Sarah Moss
Now 50% Off
Credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Real Americans
by Rachel Khong
Now 32% Off
Credit: Vintage
The Sellout
by Paul Beatty
Credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
The Ordinary Seamen
by Francisco Goldman
Credit: Grove Press
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Now 30% Off
Credit: Charles Scribner's Sons
A Feather on the Breath of God
by Sigrid Nunez
Now 36% Off
Credit: Picador Paper
Home Fire
by Kamila Shamsie
Credit: Riverhead Books
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