Rachel Khong on bell hooks, 'How to do Nothing,' and The Book That Has The Best Title

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Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com’s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you’re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.

The daughter of civil engineers, Rachel Khong wanted “to be a writer” and now comes her second novel, Real Americans (Knopf) on the heels of her acclaimed debut, Goodbye, Vitamin (at one point called Hello, Vitamin), winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction and Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist for First Fiction.

The Malaysia-born, Arizona- and Southern California-raised, Los Angeles-based author was executive editor of David Chang’s Lucky Peach; founded work and event space The Ruby for nonbinary, transfeminine, and female creatives; sets her phone to airplane mode to write, which she does in half hour-increments called wedges (4-8 wedges to a circle); went to Yale (during which she interned at McSweeney’s and the Village Voice) and got her MFA from the University of Florida (where she cooked at a wine and cheese shop/café). She also shares a birthday with Tom Hanks, Courtney Love, and June Jordan (July 9); had a story read by Levar Burton for his podcast (“My Dear You”); and wrote The Freshening, a sci-fi short story being adapted for film directed by Cathy Yan, produced by Ali Wong, and starring John Boyega.

Good at: Braising pork, thinking about snacks, crossword puzzles

Bad at: Math, whistling, keeping shirts clean while cooking

Likes: Fountain pens, swimming, ketchup, Korean Mamison dishwashing gloves, Malaysian dessert ice kacang and noodle soup assam laksa, shrimp cocktail and to-do lists, Big Sur, pickleball, porto tonicos, molasses, astrology, enamel sinks, cabbage, Milo, writing in the woods

Dislikes: even numbered years, dragging a knife edge on a cutting board (use the back), tight pants. Below, she lets loose on her book picks.

The book that…

…helped me through a loss:

Elizabeth McCracken’s An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination was a case of exact right book at the exact right time, funny and devastating and meditative in all the right proportions.

…I recommend over and over again:

Skinship by Yoon Choi. A story collection that expertly captures the particular language and rhythms of immigrant families. I’m in awe of it.

...shaped my worldview:

I can’t be alone in finding it a confusing time to be alive, and God, Human, Animal, Machine by Meghan O’Gieblyn speaks to that confusion by asking all the right questions. It’s about faith, technology, being human, and so much more.

...made me rethink a long-held belief:

How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell was a mind-altering text for me, a recovering overachiever. The long-held belief was that I’m only as worthwhile as what I produce (thanks, capitalism). Odell’s excellent book suggests otherwise.

...I read in one sitting, it was that good:

I loved fairy tales as a child and Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter generated a similar sense of enchantment. You can read it in one sitting like I did, but you should probably savor it. It’s a fairy tale for our times: beautiful, profound, strange.

…currently sits on my nightstand:

Rachel Pollack’s Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom is an invaluable resource for learning the tarot. I love it as a reference book and bedtime story.

...has the best title:

The Gangster We Are All Looking For by Lê Thi Diem Thúy. And the book itself is just as incredible as its title.

...has the best opening line:

Waiting by Ha Jin: ““Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.”

…helped me become a better writer:

Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg articulated something I’ve always known: writing is hard because being alone with your thoughts is really uncomfortable! Somehow knowing that discomfort is part of the process makes it easier to exist inside of it. This is a slim, wise book I recommend to any writer.

…describes a house I’d want to live in:

Deborah Levy—who is one of my favorite writers—spends the third installment of her living memoir Real Estate imagining a home she’d love to inhabit. There’s an egg-shaped fireplace, corridors of love, a pomegranate tree, room enough to write and throw dinner parties. I’d love to live there, or at least be invited over.

...makes me feel seen:

Victoria Chang’s Dear Memory is subtitled “Letters on writing, silence, and grief.” I’m a writer permanently obsessed with memory and family, and Dear Memory speaks to those obsessions, and more: it’s about memory and history, the silences in families, what connects us and what keeps us apart.

...I’d want signed by the author:

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. Well, first I’d want the book signed and then I would hang around for as long as possible. I want to ask Ozeki, who is a Zen buddhist priest, about writing, meditation, and life.

…should be on every college syllabus:

all about love by bell hooks, with the caveat that the part about Monica Lewinsky isn’t as compassionate as I’d hope. But I wish every college student would learn much more about love, and less about war.

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken

Skinship by Yoon Choi

God, Human, Animal, Machine by Meghan O’Gieblyn

How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter

Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack

The Gangster We Are All Looking For by Lê Thi Diem Thúy

Waiting by Ha Jin

Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg

Real Estate by Deborah Levy

Dear Memory by Victoria Chang

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

all about love by bell hooks

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