Liza Achilles - Seeking wisdom through books and elsewhere.
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Home
Bio
Publications
Services
Events
The I.O.
Contact
Liza Achilles - Seeking wisdom through books and elsewhere.

Seeking wisdom through books and elsewhere.

  • Home
  • Bio
  • Publications
  • Services
  • Events
  • The I.O.
  • Contact
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Book Previews

Not Really About Whales or Creatures

August 31, 2020 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
This is a hard one. It’s not a hard book to read; that’s not what I mean. It’s a hard book to write about. As I explained last week, this is a book about whales—but it’s not really about whales. It’s called Creatures, and it’s about creatures that live in the sea—but it’s not really about that, either. It’s about...
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Reading time: 3 min
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Incidental Musings

In the Bellies of Whales

August 28, 2020 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Have you ever wondered what whales eat? What’s in those big-ass bellies? Big fish? Little fish? Lobster with butter? Shrimp cocktail with lemon slices? Lots of men named Jonah? A report from this week’s New Yorker answers this pressing—I use this word completely unironically—question for us: “In 2017, a beaked whale washed up onshore near Bergen, Norway. In its stomach...
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Reading time: 1 min
the inquisitive one
Tales

The Inquisitive One Wakes Up . . . Again!

August 26, 2020 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments
THE EYES OPENED . . . again!! The inquisitive one could see only one thing—white, silky, cottony stuff. The inquisitive one felt unwell. “Urrrghhh. . . .” said the inquisitive one. “Get up, now!!” yelled the worm living in the inquisitive one’s bellybutton. “I’m starving!! Give me pizza!!!!” “Pizza sounds really good,” admitted the inquisitive one. “Then get on it!!...
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Reading time: 3 min
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Tales

Journalistic Integrity and the I.O.

August 24, 2020 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Good day, blog readers. I write today to relay some news. That is to say, I have been working hard on a piece about the inquisitive one. Yes, I’ve been snooping about the inquisitive one’s house, endeavoring to learn just what the i.o. has been up to. I’ve been communicating with multiple sources. (While I can’t give away the identities...
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Book Previews

Angry, Angry, Angry!

August 21, 2020 by Liza Achilles 10 Comments
WOW, there’s a lot of anger out there. And in here. And everywhere. It’s nearly impossible to go on the Internet, join a Zoom call, or chat with a friend without someone—maybe even you or me!—bursting out in a diatribe of some sort. Yep, we’re all angry, . . . but what is the root cause of this anger? And...
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Reading time: 3 min
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Book Previews

How to Make a Friend

August 19, 2020 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments
There’s something strange about friendship. I used to think, in the ignorance of youth, that it wasn’t possible to be true friends with someone unless there were common interests and beliefs. I used to think that there could be cooperation between such people, but not true friendship. As a result, I shied away from people a lot . . ....
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News & Events

Hello, Again!!!!

August 17, 2020 by Liza Achilles 15 Comments
I don’t know what to say, . . . other than that didn’t go well. It’s been over two months since I last posted on this blog. Since then, I have been caught up in my by-now too-familiar anti-trifecta of concussion symptoms, arm issues, and mental health crises. I don’t want this blog to be primarily about my health woes....
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Posts by category

  • Book Previews (185)
  • Guest Posts (2)
  • Incidental Musings (82)
  • News & Events (37)
  • Tales (56)

Books previewed

Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf

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