Susan Straight’s First English Professor Turned Her On to ‘Badass’ Women

Meeting traveling nurses during the pandemic led to “Sacrament,” her 10th novel. “Our memories will be indelible,” she says, “like my father’s stories of the Dust Bowl.”

By Scott Heller

In an email interview, she shared the book she rereads yearly, and explained why she misses James Baldwin and Dorothy Allison.

Describe your ideal reading experience.

As a child, the oldest of five, with a Swiss-born mother who gave me endless chores, I had to hide in a tree to read. I will read anywhere. I raised three daughters as a single mom. I love to read in the car, in the bleachers, at the doctor’s office, but especially on my porch — behind a hedge so no one can see me.

What books are on your night stand?

“Indian Horse,” by Richard Wagamese; “Nightshade,” by Michael Connelly; “Lila,” by Marilynne Robinson; “Under the Feet of Jesus,” by Helena María Viramontes, because I’m teaching it again and I reread it every year with pleasure.

What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of?

“Of Love and Dust,” by Ernest J. Gaines, checked out from the public library when I was 15. Set in Louisiana in the 1940s, when a young man like thousands of others is incarcerated on a pretext, then leased out to a plantation farm, where he refuses to bow down. The dialogue and sly humor sing exactly the same notes as the older people I grew up around. Read the full interview at the New York Times.