May 20, 2020
Dear Friends and Fellow Readers:
Because of this pandemic, many have asked for my book selections now, instead of year end, to help cope with sheltering in place. My fiction book selections are in honor of my deceased mother Ilza Berry Williams.
2020 again produced an extraordinary number of interesting fiction and new writers. This has been a year of great characters, sometimes at the expense of story telling.
Both Lita and my book clubs have been converted to Zoom book discussion and also separate check in sessions.
Again, I read some interesting nonfiction on leadership. A big shout out to my friends Shellye Archambeau and her book Unapologetically Ambitious and Doug Holloday with Rethinking Success. Please visit the website and provide me with your favorites.
The pandemic has given me the chance to reread or read older books namely Brothers and Keepers by John Wideman and Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2020 (Part 1) ILZA'S LIST BOOK PICKS!
Barry Lawson Williams
My mother, llza Berry Williams, was a New York City schoolteacher. She taught reading, then all subjects to special needs students, and then English as a second language to Spanish speaking students. She became a principal, and then the Deputy School System Administrator before retiring. She managed to read a book a day before she passed.
Thanks again for continuing these lists! I’ve moved to listening via Audible, almost exclusively. My favorites for 2020: Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande; A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn; The Meaning of Mariah Carey; UntilThe End of Time, by Brian Greene; and The Sword and the Shield, by Penial E. Joseph. Note these are all non-fiction.
Honorable mention in the fiction category goes to The Unspoken, by Ian K. Smith.