The relationship that R&B and jazz songstress Alyson Williams has with reading today stems from her childhood, which included vigorous academic requirements. “I don’t want to sound like it’s an excuse, I love books,” she tells So Booking Cool. “I physically love a book, the opening, the closing, the spine, the feel of a book, the smell of a book—I love books. But I find—and this is something people may not know—I find that when I start books, I hardly ever get to finish them. But I do love to read.”
She continues, “I think the nuns really threw me…when I went to school, we had a lot of reading to do…I guess they thought we could handle it, but they gave us a lot of homework and extra-curricular reading, so for me, reading as a kid was [a dread] because there was just so much of it. There was so much of it. So now when I read as an adult, I fall sleep immediately. I read and then I’m gone. I think it’s a mechanism.”
While there may be a lot of unfinished books in Williams’ personal library (this is true for many people), it’s a habit she is trying to break. In Part 2 (check out part 1), she mentions some of the books she’s started, as well as her favorite novel of all time. She also shared that she is interested in writing books of her own, especially a children’s one. It would probably be about bullying, a topic she knows, and would include elements of music and building self-confidence.
“It would be something that would tell a child not to be fearful of the world,” she says. “Maybe how to war off someone with a negative energy and wants to bully you, because I was bullied. So somebody has to tell you that you are enough and don’t let anybody steal that from you, and you deserve the best, and don’t be ashamed of who you are, how you look, what your skin tone is. All of those kinds of things are what I would want to pour into a child or be a tool to help them get through those rough times because those things happen in life, but they shouldn’t define you. They shouldn’t mar you.”
Check out the interview to learn more about Williams such as the most pivotal challenge she’s overcome (she is a survivor); her thoughts on this year’s election results; her take on how people can cope during the pandemic; her song “Happy Holiday”; her thoughts on what makes a good radio personality; the proudest moments of her career and more! For more information, visit Williams online.