In addition to being a promising author (of her latest, The 100 Year Miracle, Gillian Fynn said, “Already one of my favorite novels of 2016”), Ashley Ream is also an accomplished marathoner. Make that ultramarathoner. You know, someone for whom 26 miles just doesn’t seem like enough.
How in the world does she endure such grueling work? Audiobooks, she says. “Before I really became a connoisseur, I thought of audio as just another edition of the book, like soft vs. hardcover, and I was so, so wrong. It’s an adaptation, in some ways more akin to seeing a movie based on a novel. I am very passionate about this.”
As it turns out, they’re wonderful distractions when the going gets rough. “It’s common for me to run four or five hours at a time during training,” says Ashley, “and I live in Seattle, which means tough mountain trails and rain … The best books have rich, immersive settings and fast plots. What I’m listening to has to push away the physical discomfort and take me to a new place. Mysteries, magic realism, speculative fiction — all of those are high on my running book list.”
Here are Ashley’s favorite audiobooks for running super-long distances without even noticing (much):
"Anything Jim Dale narrates gets my attention," says Ashley. "His voice is magic." In this modern classic, the circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white-striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg.
“Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly
A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days.
When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself.
Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Village Voice • Chicago Sun-Times • iO9 • The AV Club
“Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”—HuffPost
“An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN
“A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”—Boston Globe
“Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR
“[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”—iO9
Running is an ideal time to be enlightened while you're entertained. Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. Her essays confront a wide range of subjects, icons, and historical moments: Ike, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton; Canadian Mounties and German filmmakers; Tom Cruise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush's inauguration. The result is an engrossing audiobook, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary.
Nothing like a story that sends a chill down your spine to get you moving fast. Set in the secluded Dutch territory of Sleepy Hollow, nebbish schoolmaster Ichabod Crane competes with the town hero for the hand of Katrina Van Tassel, the 18-year-old daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer. As Crane leaves a party at the Van Tassel's farm one autumn evening, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, an apparition said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper snuffed out by a stray cannonball.
A riveting listen to distract you from the pain. From the internationally best-selling author of the acclaimed novel The Power of the Dog comes The Cartel, a gripping, ripped-from-the-headlines story of power, corruption, revenge, and justice spanning the past decade of the Mexican-American drug wars.
Ashley's pick for running long distances: Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty — a twentysomething with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre — took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. With an original voice that combines fearless curiosity and mordant wit, Caitlin tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters, gallows humor, and vivid characters (both living and very dead).
Goodreads Choice Awards Winner for Memoir & Autobiography 2016
Winner: Memoir/Biography
"Thanks to When Breath Becomes Air, those of us who never met Paul Kalanithi will both mourn his death and benefit from his life. This is one of a handful of books I consider to be a universal donor — I would recommend it to anyone, everyone." –Ann Patchett See all finalists in Memoir/Biography
