Susan Choi: ‘I Feel I’ve Read Nothing but Great Books Recently

The list includes “Heartwood,” “Other Worlds,” “The Wall” and “The Fact Checker.” Her own new novel is “Flashlight.”

By Scott Heller

What books are on your night stand?

This is constantly in flux, but right this minute Viet Thanh Nguyen’s “To Save and to Destroy” and Marie-Helene Bertino’s “Exit Zero.”

Describe your ideal reading experience.

I just experienced it. I had started reading Amity Gaige’s absolutely riveting new novel, “Heartwood,” and I literally could not put it down, but I had sworn to myself that I would go to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to see the cherry blossoms, because this is one of my very favorite times of the year. So then I had this huge internal struggle — blossoms or book? — which was resolved when I took the book to the blossoms.

What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?

My older son gave me Ben Lerner’s “The Hatred of Poetry” for Christmas one year, I think to express his own feelings, since I actually love poetry. Remembering this cracks me up. I don’t think I’ve properly answered the question.

What’s the last great book you read?

See under “Heartwood,” but actually I feel I’ve read nothing but great books recently. I just finished André Alexis’ new collection, “Other Worlds,” and true to the title I was transported. It’s incredible.

Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

“The Wall,” by Marlen Haushofer, which was first published in 1963 and has attained what The New Yorker calls cult status; a colleague of mine at Johns Hopkins had assigned it to our grad students and they couldn’t stop talking about it. It’s one of the most beautiful and most harrowing books I’ve ever read, as well as one of the best, but I’m not sure I could read it again. Read the full interview at The New York Times.