Debbie Laskey's Blog: FALL BACK TO READING SERIES 2026 featuring Melanie Bell

Following in the footsteps of eight previous series where thought leaders responded to questions on my blog over the last several years to discuss leadership, marketing, reading, and the Olympics, I'm thrilled to announce that it's time for my 9th series!

During the Fall season (each Monday from September 28th through December 20th), I'm welcoming a dozen thought leaders to share their insights about reading, books, personal branding, and leadership. Today, Melanie Bell is my featured expert. Melanie is the Co-Founder of Strategic Piece, a company that helps B2B businesses generate outstanding revenue growth by aligning their marketing, sales, and service teams around an information-driven customer experience. Also a passionate reader, Melanie founded Leaders Who Fiction, a virtual monthly book club where participants hone their leadership skills by reading and discussing works of fiction. (Thanks to Twitter/X, we met in November 2023, and I value my participation in the group.) Melanie earned a BA in International Development from McGill University in Montreal and an MBA from Rice University in Houston.

Before we begin, I'd like to share my two favorite reading quotes to set the stage:

"If you give a person a book, you give him the world." ~New York Times bestselling author Kristin Harmel (from her work of historical fiction, "The Paris Daughter")

"For you unlock magic that is hidden within, and opening the cover is how you begin. Oh, all the worlds and the places you'll see; when you hold a book, you hold the key." ~Caroline Derlatka

And now, let's begin.

QUESTION: What was the last book (fiction or non-fiction) you read? What stood out as memorable, and would you recommend it?

MELANIE BELL: I've been DNF-ing (did not finish) a lot of books recently. The last one I finished reading was "My Friends" by Fredrik Backman, which was the July selection for Leaders Who Fiction. I absolutely adored the opening paragraph: "Louisa is a teenager, the best kind of human. The evidence for this is very simple: little children think teenagers are the best humans, and teenagers think teenagers are the best humans, the only people who don't think that teenagers are the best humans are adults. Which is obviously because adults are the worst kind of humans." Backman is a strong writer, and I so appreciated how he flips generally agreed upon sentiments (like teenagers are so hard!).

QUESTION: Which book (fiction or non-fiction) is on the top of your to-be-read pile (or first in your digital reader), and why?

MELANIE BELL: I'm currently reading "Land" by Maggie O’Farrell, who I love. Any new book of hers will be high on my TBR list. After that, I think "Lady Tremaine" just hopped to the top. I've been dancing around reading it for a while, but there was a long wait time for it at the local library when it first came out, and then I forgot about it. I keep hearing good things, and as a stepmom, I'm intrigued to hear Cinderella from the perspective of the "evil stepmother."

QUESTION: With all the streaming services available, many works of fiction are now adapted into films or TV series. During the last year, have you watched a film or TV show and been impressed and/or inspired by the adaptation? (If you haven't watched any adaptations, are you looking forward to any currently in the planning or production phases?)

MELANIE BELL: I know the adaptation of "Remarkably Bright Creatures" was not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it, in part because I'm a fan of Sally Field. I try to let a lot of time go by between reading a book and watching the adaptation to consider the movie or show on its own merit rather than comparing it closely to its origin. Plus, the scenery was stunning! Clearly, I need to make a trip back to British Columbia. (But I still do think the book was better!)

QUESTION: If you're a fan of the TED LASSO series on Apple TV, have you watched the new season (that returned on August 5th)? If yes, what stands out about Ted's leadership lessons or leadership style from the new season? Alternatively, if you're not a fan of the show or have not yet watched it, is there another CURRENT TV show that showcases inspiring leadership?

MELANIE BELL: I am a fan of Ted Lasso but I haven't watched the new season yet. And this gives me a chance to shout out my favorite show of the year: "Widow's Bay." It is spooky—I couldn't watch it close to bedtime—but it's also so funny, and the acting is brilliant. Matthew Rhys plays a mayor of a struggling and cursed town on an island off the coast of New England. He desperately wants the town to be the next Martha's Vineyard despite locals warning him against bringing tourists to the island. There are lots of great leadership lessons in each episode as well. Highly recommend if you don't mind something scary every once in a while!

QUESTION: Which author (either from history or currently writing) would you choose to have dinner with, and what would you discuss?

MELANIE BELL: The first author who popped into my head was Ann Patchett. I could listen to her talk about writing forever. But the author I thought of next would also be AMAZING to meet: Elena Ferrante. Nobody knows who she actually is (I assume a woman, but Ferrante could be a man since this is a pen name).

This is a quote from Ferrante about writing: "I employ all the strategies I know to capture the reader's attention, stimulate curiosity, make the page as dense as possible and as easy as possible to turn. But once I have the reader's attention I feel it is my right to pull it in whichever direction I choose. I don't think the reader should be indulged as a consumer, because he isn't one. Literature that indulges the tastes of the reader is a degraded literature. My goal is to disappoint the usual expectations and inspire new ones."

And, of course, there would be Italian food. Actually, could we make this a dinner party?!

Debbie Laskey's Blog

Monday, October 19, 2026

FALL BACK TO READING SERIES 2026 featuring Melanie Bell

SHARE THIS: I don't think the reader should be indulged as a consumer, because he isn't one...My goal is to disappoint the usual expectations and inspire new ones. ~Elena Ferrante (with thanks to Melanie Bell) #FallBacktoReadingSeries2026 #ReadingInspires #DebbieLaskeysBlog

SHARE THIS: If you give a person a book, you give him the world. ~@KristinHarmel #ReadingOpensMinds #FallBacktoReadingSeries2026 #DebbieLaskeysBlog

SHARE THIS: A bibliophile is a lover of books, while a lectiophile is a lover of reading. The distinction is due to the object versus the activity. #FunFact #ReadingIsMySuperPower #FallBacktoReadingSeries2026 #DebbieLaskeysBlog

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