There are book lovers and then there’s Ashley Xiques, an Elkhorn South graduate and UNO sophomore. The 20-year-old caught the bug after being swept away by a Young Readers fantasy series in her early teens. Countless books later, she’s now a self-described “full-time book addict.”
“I can’t go like even two days without reading a book – it drives me crazy,” she said. Her habit’s filled several book shelves at home and finds her often hunting new reads at bookstores and in online reading communities.
“I go around taking pictures of books and post them and I talk to other people about books online. I’ve found so many recommendations on Goodreads through people from all across the United States and the world. It’s just a way of connecting through books.”

 
Her Facebook timeline, Pinterest page and Instagram page brim with book chatter.
“There’s so many ways of finding good books. I’m on those sites too for inspiration about characters and stories. Whenever I read new books I want other people to find out about them, especially if they’re not popular. I want people to find them so we can talk about them together.”
She’s also shares her literary musings with fellow bibliophiles on Odyssey.
Her admiration for the Grisha series by New York Times best-selling author Leigh Bardugo led Xiques to enter the national Letters About Literature contest through a high school creative writing class.
Ashley’s letter won her age category in Nebraska. Ashley’s letter draws parallels between themes in the series and her own life. For example, the series deals with what it’s like to feel adrift. She related to that as her large family – she’s one of eight siblings – moved several times following her now retired Air Force father’s military base assignments.
“We moved around a lot. We moved all around Texas (where she was born), then to Virginia, back to Texas and then to Nebraska eight or nine years ago. I don’t mind moving – it’s nice to see new things and meet new people. But, yeah, it’s nice to be settled, stable and have a set group of friends and not have to leave them.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to readjust your life again.”
I need a home. Not a house, I’ve known a plethora of those. -from Ashley’s letter.
Like a series character, she doesn’t like being labeled things she’s not. She took offense at being called spoiled and selfish by other kids.
“I’ve never been like that. I’ve never been someone that things are just given to. I’ve always been a person who’s worked for what I want. My parents don’t buy me everything. I work for myself, I work for my grades, I work for my money. But people want to put labels and stereotypes on you. People judge before they understand the situation and the person and who they actually are.”
Before anyone actually knew the person I was, society had already placed a label on my shoulders. Time to prove them wrong.
I could. I would. I did. -from Ashely’s letter.
Xiques also identified with an outsider character because she sometimes felt like the odd kid out as the third oldest sibling and then having to try and fit in as the new kid on the block.
Writing the letter helped her express things she couldn’t always verbalize. She went through several drafts. Two days before the deadline, she rewrote it in a single sitting.
“I do well under pressure. I didn’t edit it or anything. I just said, ‘OK, this is what I’m feeling and that’s what it’s going to be.’ That’s why I was kind of shocked when it won. It’s cool though.”
She’s an old hand at writing: reviews, essays, poems. She once started her own spy novel – fifty thousand words worth. She sent friends each new chapter. Then she decided it wasn’t good enough and abandoned the project. She laid out the plot and characters for a new book before putting it aside, too, but she’s hatched new ideas for it.
“I’ve spun the original idea into something completely different. If I were to do it now, I’d be torn between writing a fantasy book or a realistic modern fiction book. I think I will eventually write a book if I come up with a good (enough) idea.”
It will have to wait though. She’s too busy now working a job and carrying 17 credit hours at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. At her parents urging Xiques long ago set her sights on college. She credits reading with her excelling in school. She made the UNO Dean’s List.
“I know reading helped a lot with that. It boosted my comprehension skills in all different subjects.”
Meanwhile, she’s cultivating new readers in her family.
“My two younger brothers like to read. They go with me to bookstores when I’m out looking for new titles. They view it as an adventure.”
Follow Ashley’s literary adventures at www. theodysseyonline.com/@ashleyxiques.
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.

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