Libraries of Leaders: On The Bookshelves Of An Asian Supermodel
What supermodel Elena reads...
She speaks fluent Spanish, French and English. Hindi, she admits, is a work in progress. Throw in a law degree from Kings College in London, a passion for sports, a few cats and dogs, and a Spanish-speaking grandmother, and what do you have? A supermodel, of course! Elena.
Born to an Indian father and a Peruvian mother, Elena Roxana Maria Fernandes, Maxim’s Asian Supermodel of 2016, is a global citizen who divides her time between New York, London and Mumbai. A career with the America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was her childhood dream. Life, however, had other glamorous things in store. Elena made her Bollywood debut in 2016 with a cameo in Kapoor and Sons; she was also featured in the 2015 Kingfisher Calendar. She advises everyone to find an author and a genre which they enjoy “as it is the best form of escapism”. The self-proclaimed geek and bibliophile shared some of her favourite books with BloombergQuint...
Temple of the Gods by Andrew McDermott
Starring McDermott’s lead pair of Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase, the book is a thriller which starts with the theft of three statutes, setting the protagonists on a collision course with potentially devastating consequences. Elena said that she loved the book as it let her imagination run wild.
Treachery: Betrayals, Blunders, and Cover-ups: Six Decades of Espionage Against America and Great Britain by Chapman Pincher
Authored by a renowned intelligence expert, the book draws on reams of recently declassified documents and meticulous and extensive interviews. It describes the scope and extent of Soviet espionage, targeting America and Britain. It also deals with some of the biggest blunders by agencies such as the CIA and MI5, including counterintelligence failures, especially in unmasking treacherous moles.
Reading about the agencies that we don’t know that much about and how they keep the country and the people safe is fascinating.Elena Fernandes
The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry
Another selection from the thriller/conspiracy genre, the book details an investigation that joins the dots between the seemingly unconnected assassinations of four U.S. Presidents. In the course of the investigation, a cipher owned by Thomas Jefferson and a clause in the constitution that is worded to protect a secret society are revealed.
