Shelf Life: Angie Kim

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.

Just a few short years ago, in 2019, Angie Kim released her debut novel, Miracle Creek. Set in a small Virginia town, the Korean-American family at the center was largely modeled after Kim’s own. And for her new book, Happiness Falls (Penguin Random House), available on August 29, she returns to Virginia with another family saga. This time around, the story follows a man who goes missing and his headstrong wife and two children who set out to find him.

The South Korea-born and Baltimore-raised writer studied philosophy at Stanford and later attended Harvard Law School where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She’s won several awards, including the Edgar Prize, the ITW Thriller Award, the Strand Critics’ Award, and the Pinckley Prize. And in a past life, she was also a trial lawyer. Dive into her book recommendations below.

The book that…

…made me weep uncontrollably:

Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. The last chapter, “Always Again,” gets me every time. I re-read it just now to see, and sure enough, I’m in tears.

…I recommend over and over again:

Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad. So many different literary styles and genres in one. Masterful!

…shaped my worldview:

Naoki Higashida’s The Reason I Jump. Rocked my world and made me rethink all my assumptions.

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

Tim O’Brien’s In the Lake of the Woods. I read it cover to cover in one afternoon with a bottle of wine, and it was such an amazing experience that it made me quit law in search of another career that could make me as happy on a day-to-day basis. (Four careers and 30 years later, I finally found it: fiction writing!)

…I’d pass on to my kid:

My Calvin and Hobbes collection. I treasure it, and I’m still trying to figure out how to divide it equally for my three sons!

…I’d like turned into a TV show:

Kate Folk’s Out There. Hilarious, weird, bizarre, and eerie as hell—a literary version of my favorite episodes of Black Mirror (a TV show I love).

…I last bought:

Paul Goldberg’s The Dissident and Mary Kay Zuravleff’s American Ending, which I bought at Politics & Prose during Paul’s event there (and a week before Mary Kay’s). I’m so excited to dig into both!

…has the best title:

Marisha Pessl’s Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I didn’t even care what it was about; I just wanted to read it as soon as possible!

…has the best opening line:

Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. “The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.” So many questions! You have to read nonstop until you figure out who Bunny is and why/how he comes to die, and by then, you’ve been up for 24 hours straight and you have to keep reading until the end!

…broke my heart:

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. Is there a more perfect book? (The answer is no.)

…helped me become a better writer (and made me laugh out loud):

Lorrie Moore’s Birds of America. This book, the short story “People Like That Are the Only People Here,” in particular, was revelatory. All of Lorrie Moore’s stories, really. The humor and intimacy and raw honesty. It made me want to become a writer.

…I brought on a momentous trip:

I brought Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow on my 25th wedding anniversary trip to Portugal, which was also my first trip after finishing the first draft of Happiness Falls. One of the many reasons why I love that book!

…I’ve re-read the most:

Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. I love this novel so much. I love his other novels, too—Klara and the Sun, A Pale View of Hills—but this was my touchstone while writing Happiness Falls.

…I consider literary comfort food:

Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto. It’s so beautiful and it immediately transports me to a world of operatic music (which I love). I feel warmer just thinking about it.

…surprised me:

Weike Wang’s Chemistry and Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise. I happened to read them back to back, and although they were totally different, two things about both of them really struck me and made them fall in love with them immediately: their sly humor and their inventive, unconventional storytelling format and structure.

…kept me up way too late:

Pretty much every book I read because I’m a night owl and I love reading late into the night. It’s my secret pleasure.