recognized as an O Magazine Insider and previous columnist and feature writer at Travel Oregon, US News, and Huff Post. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from Whitworth University. A lifelong outdoors enthusiast, she served as a volunteer EMT with her local county search and rescue unit before launching her travel writing career.
After raising three children in the Pacific Northwest, Hagstrom traded the Cascade, Siskiyou, and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges for The Berkshires, making her home in Western Massachusetts with her wife.
Hagstrom's new novel is Now That I Know You by Heart.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:
I am, like many writers, a voracious reader, and my choices in reading material seem to reflect my writing style…in that I write—and read—a variety ofVisit Amy Hagstrom's website.genres. I stick with fiction, primarily, and I lean toward upmarket, book club-type fiction, character-driven suspense, and mystery. My only ‘must’: I have to truly like and be ready to root for the protagonist.
Currently, I’m tackling my ‘meatiest’ writing project yet, and it would appear that my current reading list reflects this. I just finished Wally Lamb’s The River is Waiting, which I found to be a phenomenal character study of human nature at its best and worst (set primarily in the men’s prison system in the U.S.). I also tackled Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, which I believe is arguably the best book of fiction in the 21st century so far.Timely, relevant, heart-wrenching, and redeeming (ultimately, though Kingsolver certainly makes you wait for it).
I work on my property and walk my dog a lot, so I find myself listening to a lot of books as well. I am currently listening to The Wedding People by Alison Espach, which holds me captivated with its infusion of humor, relatability, and charm. I am also a sucker for a good cozy mystery, and have been listening to the full body of work by Louise Penny. The Black Wolf did not disappoint.
The Page 69 Test: The Wild Between Us.
Q&A with Amy Hagstrom.
--Marshal Zeringue
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