Dear Reader,

Today & tomorrow, I will be teaching first year MBA students how to manage conflict.

We are going to be discussing a fantastic short story - The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu, where conflict surfaces early on in the life of a little bi-racial boy. Originally written in Chinese this story won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for the best short story. Re-reading it reminds me how magical fiction is, in the things it teaches us. We train teams in conflict management, diversity, negotiation & leadership across cultures, using the emotional learning of such stories, do try us out !

Moving from resolving conflicts to changing habits, we have 2 inspiring memoirs to begin the year with. Also a link to a conversation where Raj and I discuss running books on his Running with Raj podcast.

And a Japanese novella to ruminate over, a beautiful picture book on Charles Darwin, as well as travel fiction picks from Reader of the Fortnight Lakshmi Sharath.

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If starting the year with books appeals to you- how about gifting yourself, friends, and family a book a month - check this out !

Fiction Book of the Fortnight

For January we recommend a time travel novella set in a little cafe in Tokyo. And no, you can’t travel back in time and prevent yourself from being born, or villains from being spawned. There are rules. And one is that whatever you do, you can’t change the past. Yet each of these 4 time travel journeys in the book has a profound impact on the life of the traveller - read Before the Coffee Gets Cold to discover how !

Non fiction book of the fortnight

Start the year with our all time favourite sports memoir - Open by Andre Agassi, a book you can read and re-read. Open is the story of Agassi’s relationship with tennis, but it could be each of our stories too - the love hate relationships we have with our goals - as they drive us, consume us, traumatise us, but also make us who we are.

From here dip into the science of running with Adharanand Finn and also the making of sprinting legend Usain Bolt.

First Ladies of Running is full of unbelievable stories, as women fight to run, donning swimming gear and borrowing shorts from siblings (as late as 1968 there were no sports bras or shorts for women).

More on this, and other sports books, in my conversation with Raj.

Picture Book of the Fortnight

Molecular biologist, graphic designer and illustrator Sabina Radeva gives us a stunning version of Darwin’s seminal scientific text. On the Origin of the Species is the perfect book to have on your children’s home library shelf, every time they dip into it, they will discover something different.

Reader of the Fortnight

Lakshmi Sharath is a Bengaluru based travel writer, a story teller, a content creator. She grew up reading Ruskin Bond and PG Wodehouse, writers who make the landscapes around them come alive.

Reading helps me stay creative and focused and helps me be mindful. Books take me into an alternate universe and yet they help me stay grounded.

What are some books that have made you want to travel ?

As a teenager I read Nevil Shute’s A Town like Alice and for years I wanted to visit Australia. And to travel to the Mississippi river after reading Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. More recently reading Henning Mankell’s stories set in Skane in Sweden, I felt like going to Sweden. When we finally did go we were on the Danish side and that was disappointing !

What books would we find in your travel luggage?

I pack either The Book of Indian Birds by Salim Ali or Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett.

Three books you’ve enjoyed recently?

At Home by Bill Bryson, The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony , Make your Bed by William McRaven

A book you didn’t enjoy ?

My Life in Full by Indra Nooyi. I think I might have come to the book with very high expectations. I was disappointed there weren’t anecdotes about decision making and leadership. I did enjoy the first part of the book about growing up in Chennai- I related to it, since I also grew up in a joint family in Chennai.

What are some interesting books you have picked up on your travels ?

In a 2009 trip to Ladakh I picked up Crossroads of High Asia by Janet Rizvi. In Japan, books by Murakami. In Cambodia, a beautifully illustrated guide book Ancient Ankor.

What is your next travel destination ?

After some years of international travel, I now want to go back to travelling in my backyard, around Bengaluru. A few years ago I explored the Malnad region going to 30 temples, I’d like to revisit that area.

And lastly, what are your all time favourite travel books ?

I love all Bill Bryson, specially A Walk in the Woods. Pico Iyer too.

To follow Lakshmi’s travels, sign up here for her travel newsletter Journeys and Jottings.

If you’d like to be featured as our Reader of the Fortnight, please click here.

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And if you’d like to revamp your reading life, read more & read better, click here.

Next fortnight we feature a Book Club, and Book Events. Till then, Happy Reading !

Warm regards,

Sonya

PS - For more regular book recommendations follow us on Instagram, Facebook , Twitter or our blog.

Sonya’s Read to Lead

What Should I read Next: Issue 12