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Today
Shelly Lazarus
CEO, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
You won't find the woman who created some of the most successful branding campaigns in retail history reading how-to business books. That's not Shelly Lazarus' style. The CEO of advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide prefers novels.
"There was a time when I felt guilty because I didn't read all of the latest business books," Lazarus says. "Then I heard (In Search of Excellence author) Tom Peters say he only read novels because, 'All business is about is human interaction, and I learn more about human interaction from reading novels than I ever learned from business books.'"
That put an end to Lazarus' guilt trip.
She recently completed The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, a novel set in World War II Britain, on a trip to and from Beijing. "If I had been sitting on the ground, I would not have enjoyed it half as much," she says.
Her three favorite books
*
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy.
*The Hours by Michael Cunningham.
*
Sophie's Choice by William Styron.
Jude the Obscure was the book that made her fall in love with reading in her late teens. It's the story of various illicit unions and tragedies that form themselves around the central character of Jude Fawley, the village mason who steps above his station to attend an English university.
"It stays with you all your life," Lazarus says of Hardy's 1895 work. "The story is wonderful, and you become totally involved with the characters. There are moments when you fear for them, when you hope for them and when your heart soars for them."
Not only is Lazarus a voracious reader, she also gives many books as gifts. "I always give books at Christmas, because there is very little you can give that's as personal."
Three gift books
she recommends
*The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud, a tale of disillusioned Gen Xers in New York's publishing world.
*The Mission Song by John le Carre, the story of a reluctant spy.
*Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, the dish on President Lincoln's fractious Cabinet.
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