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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Guest Posts

Clutching Our Books While Riding a Rollercoaster: the Solace and Challenges of Reading During a Pandemic

February 24, 2021 by Liza Achilles 1 Comment
The following is a guest post by Vicki Ziegler, a book lover, blogger, web designer, social media manager, information architect, and organizer of Silent Book Club events in east end Toronto. The two of us set ourselves the challenge of writing about the same topic: how to keep reading during a pandemic. Below is her response. I’ll share mine with...
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Reading time: 9 min
the inquisitive one
Tales

The Inquisitive One Talks to an Attorney

February 22, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
“Good day,” said the attorney, while entering the small meeting room in the prison. “It’s not!” cried the inquisitive one, who was chained to the table. “Surely your mother did not name you ‘The Inquisitive One?'” “Surely your mother did not let you leave home in that wretched old suit?” (The inquisitive one was in an uncharacteristically bad mood. Which...
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Reading time: 1 min
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Incidental Musings

Facts and Myths About Concussions and Post-Concussion Syndrome

February 19, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I want to share some facts and myths about concussions and post-concussion syndrome, just in case this information helps someone out there. From personal experience, I know that searching on the Internet for answers to concussion and post-concussion syndrome issues is a bit of a paradox. When I’m experiencing symptoms, I don’t feel well enough to search for such information...
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Reading time: 10 min
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Book Previews

What’s the Wisdom of Don Quixote?

February 17, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Don Quixote is one of the greatest masterpieces of Western literature. But what does that mean, exactly? What’s great about this book? What wisdom does it have to offer? That’s what I’d like to briefly answer in this blog post. For a fuller answer?—you’ll have to read the book yourself. Don Quixote satirizes melodramatic books (and people who take such...
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Reading time: 6 min
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Incidental Musings

Thoughts on Valentine’s Day

February 15, 2021 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
I have concerns about the holiday known as Valentine’s Day. Dedicating an annual day to the idea of love is not a bad thing. But Valentine’s Day, as it is practiced in our culture, is not equivalent to celebrating love. Love comes in many forms. We can love family, friends, animals, and the whole world. But Valentine’s Day skews toward...
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Reading time: 2 min
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Book Previews

Three Don Quixote Translations: Spanish to English

February 12, 2021 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
Let’s take, as a sample, the first sentence of chapter IV of the first part of Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. This great and classic novel was written and published in the early 1600s in Spanish. Part I was published first. Ten years later, part II was published. The two parts are now together known as Don Quixote and...
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Reading time: 9 min
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Book Previews

Don Quixote: What’s the Best Translation?

February 10, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I have read the masterpiece Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, twice in my life. The two experiences were quite different. This was in large part due to the fact that I read two very different translations of the book. Don Quixote Reading #1: Bargain-Bin Translation The first time, I was in my early 30s. I had picked up the...
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Reading time: 4 min
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Incidental Musings

How It Goes With Writing Sometimes

February 9, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I had a blog post almost complete and ready to send yesterday. But as I was coming to my conclusion, I realized that I had written myself into a corner. I had made a mistake. My entire thesis turned out to be untrue. Often, I do not know exactly what my conclusion will be until I write it. Often, I...
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Reading time: 2 min
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Incidental Musings

My Gratitude Practice: An Update

February 5, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I want to share how things are going with the gratitude practice my friend and I initiated a few weeks ago. Since research shows that cultivating gratitude can increase happiness, my friend and I started texting each other every night. In the texts, we would each list three things we were grateful for that day. (I wrote about the genesis...
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Reading time: 3 min
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Book Previews

The Psychological Effects of Living in a Small Space

February 3, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
What’s it like to have your world confined to a small space? I think most of us know, having lived through the past year. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I read the book Solitary, by Albert Woodfox, out of curiosity as to whether there were any lessons to be learned in looking at the pandemic experience through...
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Reading time: 10 min
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Incidental Musings

A Story About Telling the Truth

February 1, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Killing It on Twitter Some time ago, I noticed someone on Twitter who was killing it. He had multiple tens of thousands of followers. He posted original content ten to fifteen times a day. People were commenting on and interacting with his posts. Like me, he had written books and was trying to get them published. I was curious what...
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Reading time: 4 min
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  • Book Previews (181)
  • Guest Posts (2)
  • Incidental Musings (82)
  • News & Events (36)
  • Tales (56)

Books previewed

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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