Ashley Ream

Ashley Ream got her first job writing for newspapers when she was 16. Since then her career has taken her all over the Midwest, Gulf, and West Coasts with more moves than she would care to count. She is now finally and happily settled in Seattle, where she lives with her husband and runs ultramarathons. Her debut novel, Losing Clementine, was short-listed for the Balcones Fiction Prize.

Ream's new novel is The 100 Year Miracle.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

My book club just finished discussing Euphoria by Lily King. I read it like the pages were burning up. Loosely based on Margaret Mead’s 1933 field trip to New Guinea, the book follows Nell Stone, a renowned anthropologist, and her career-jealous husband. There is little I like more in a book than an immersive setting, fast plot and strong female characters, and this book hit every one. It was one of those rare experiences when it feels like a book was written just for you.

I’m ashamed to admit this, but until recently, I hadn’t read much—if any—poetry since college. Slowly but surely, I’m rectifying that. Right now I’m making my way through Aimless Love by Billy Collins. Holy crap on a cracker, that man is amazing. I mean blow-the-doors-off incredible. “The Country” is my new favorite poem. It’s about a mouse that accidentally starts a house fire with a strike-anywhere match. How could you not want to read that? How could you not love it?

I just started reading Hold Still by Lynn Steger Strong (not to be confused with the memoir of the same name by Sally Mann, the photographer, which I also recently read and loved). It’s about a high-achieving mother and a struggling daughter, a mistake and all the ways in which love can be difficult. I’m only a little way in, but I’ve got very high hopes.

Learn more about the book and author at Ashley Ream's website.

Writers Read: Ashley Ream (January 2013).

The Page 69 Test: The 100 Year Miracle.

--Marshal Zeringue