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Liza Achilles - Literary/Autobiographical Author. The Blog for the Discerning Reader.

Literary / Autobiographical Author

❤ Books to make you laugh, hope & ponder ❤


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Book Previews

What Happens When You Stop Taking Psych Meds?

May 19, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Huge numbers of Americans take psychiatric medications to treat mental health conditions. I’m one of them, and maybe you are, too. One-quarter of all adults experience a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. According to the CDC, in 2020, 16.5 percent of American adults took prescription medication for their mental health within the...
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Book Previews

The Vegetarian by Han Kang: Analysis of the English Translation

May 5, 2025 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
South Korean author Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024. Since then, her most famous novel, The Vegetarian, has been all over American bookstores. But when I read The Vegetarian, something seemed off. Upon reaching the end of this slim book, I realized that it is indeed a masterpiece. But I wondered how the English translation compares...
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Book Previews

Should We All Go Vegan? Animal Rights & Human Animals

April 14, 2025 by Liza Achilles 6 Comments
This blog post will annoy all of you. I apologize in advance. Annoyance is the usual response I get when I talk about my food choices. Vegans get annoyed when I admit that, while I often order vegan in restaurants, I’m not a vegan. Non-vegans get annoyed when I attempt to order vegan. Depending on the venue, this tends to...
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Book Previews

All’s Fair in Love and Abuse

April 7, 2025 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Hey blog readers, book lovers, and thinkers! Major! Trigger! Warning! Today, I’d like to share with you a very long book that I immersed myself in for three weeks straight. At 720 pages, this was an investment. Was it worth it? I debated myself for a long time about whether I should write about this book on the blog. I...
veranda with plants and comfy chairs.
Book Previews

Love Letter to a Small Publishing Company: And Other Stories

March 24, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
While browsing in The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore, my eye caught some books with a fascinating appearance. Gorgeously displayed with their covers facing out, these books were clearly all published by the same quirky small publishing company. No large publishing company would dare to do anything so unusual. The books were paperback with sturdy matte covers. They were just barely...
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Book Previews

Cynical vs Skeptical Showdown & Examples of a Positive Attitude

March 17, 2025 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
Which life philosophy is better: to be cynical, or to be hopeful but skeptical? Is this something that can be objectively judged, or are these simply different preferences, one no better than the other? I definitely have a history of being cynical. As a teenager, I played trumpet. Sitting in the back of the band room with mostly boys, I...
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Book Previews

Midnight in Chernobyl, Ukraine, & Is Chernobyl Still Radioactive?

March 3, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
A book hasn’t blown my mind this explosively in a long time. (Sorry!—that joke was in extremely bad taste. . . . But every joke has a truth behind it—dare I say an atom of truth, at its core?) (Sorry, again!) Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster, by Adam Higginbotham, is insightful, instructive, and...
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Book Previews

Wine 101: How to Taste Wine & How to Learn About Wine

February 17, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
How’s the mood today? Are you in need of a drink? Me, too. If you have a history of alcoholism, click here to view an adorable photo of a newborn chicken. If you are able to drink safely and responsibly, read on! This article is your Wine 101 intro class on how to taste wine like a pro, and how...
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Book Previews

How to Get Into a Relationship & How to Handle a Rejection

January 20, 2025 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Someone commented in my anonymous survey that they wanted to see more dating stories here on the blog. This person is in luck! I don’t know whether this person wants to hear dating stories specifically from my life (or the inquisitive one’s life), or whether they want to hear dating stories in general. I’ll offer a little of both in...
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Book Previews

How to Be Vulnerable When You’re Angry, Sad, or Frustrated

January 13, 2025 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
You’ve heard the news that vulnerability is good for your mental health, while wearing emotional armor is harmful. That’s all fine and good—but what if you’re having a bad day? What if you’re feeling upset, anxious, depressed, or under pressure? What if you’re having a bad year? It’s easy to be generous, open, and honest when you’re feeling upbeat and...
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Book Previews

Everyone’s Asking: Should I Read Huckleberry Finn Before James?

December 16, 2024 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments
A classic has been born. Yeah, I know—you’ve heard that before. It’s on the back cover of practically every book you pick up. But this time, it’s for real. The 2024 novel James, by Percival Everett, isn’t just destined to become a classic of American literature; it already is one. And now everyone’s asking me the same question: Should I...
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Book Previews

Online Dating Red Flags, Scams, and Catfishing: How To Stay Safe

December 9, 2024 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
Ten percent of U.S. adults in a serious relationship met through online dating. For U.S. adults ages 18-29, it’s 20 percent. For LGB adults in the U.S., it’s 24 percent. (Stats are from the Pew Research Center.) Online dating does, for many people who desire marriage or a committed romantic partnership, “work.” But online dating scams take place every day....
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Book Previews

What Is a Platonic Life Partner? A Book on Reframing Friendship

December 2, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
For many years, I have wished that there was a term in the English language for a particular relationship I have. A term like “special friend,” “platonic friendship with love,” or “friend who’s like a sister to me.” Something more than “one of my very best friends,” but less than “platonic life partner.” Something more than “non-blood relative by marriage,”...
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Book Previews

Too Much Work? How to Avoid Burnout

November 18, 2024 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I recently suffered a bout of burnout. Its cause was overwork (on book launch tasks) and too many social engagements (to promote my book and expand my social network). Luckily, the brain is a self-healing apparatus, if you only give it time. I scaled back my commitments for a few weeks, and I took a weeklong vacation during which I...
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Book Previews

When Life Imitates Art and Art Imitates Life: Performance Art

November 11, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
How many times have you said to yourself, “I feel like I’m in a movie right now”? The strange twists of life can seem so dramatic, preposterous, and stereotypical that they feel fake—made up by some hack writer. And yet they’re real, and the “hack writer” seems suspiciously akin to God, the Universe, or Fate. Oscar Wilde famously wrote, “Life...
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Book Previews

What’s the Meaning of Visual Art? What Moves the Art World?

October 28, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
A mystique hovers around the art world. Those on the outs feel baffled by it all. Why do some artworks sell for astronomical amounts, while others are nearly worthless? Who pays millions of dollars for a few dollops of paint on a canvass stretched over boards, and why? Who attends NYC art events, and why? What is the meaning of...
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Hi! I’m Liza

selfie of Liza Achilles literary and autobiographical author writer blogger

About this blog

THE BLOG FOR THE DISCERNING READER: This blog will feed your mind and soul, plus the soles of your feet, if you're ticklish there. Read previews of intellectually and artistically great books, as well as insights on living life well, always with sprinkles of humor.

Categories of posts

  • Author Interviews (4)
  • Book Previews (334)
  • Guest Posts (5)
  • Incidental Musings (156)
  • News & Events (66)
  • Tales (78)

Featured books


candlestick with lit candle on round table with books in living roomNote that the link for the most recently added book(s) will not work until I have published the corresponding blog post.

Shakespeare’s Sisters Ramie Targoff
Unshrunk Laura Delano
The Vegetarian Han Kang
Viable Chloe Yelena Miller
Animal Liberation Now Peter Singer
A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara
Ghost Pains Jessi Jezewska Stevens
Hope for Cynics Jamil Zaki
Midnight in Chernobyl Adam Higginbotham
Cork Dork Bianca Bosker
The Scent of Bright Light Jean K. Dudek
Rejection Tony Tulathimutte
Intermezzo Sally Rooney
Do I Know You? Sadie Dingfelder
James Percival Everett
There Is No Ethan Anna Akbari
The Other Significant Others Rhaina Cohen
Slow Productivity Cal Newport
Blue Ruin Hari Kunzru
Get the Picture Bianca Bosker
Lawn Boy Jonathan Evison
Congratulations, The Best Is Over! R. Eric Thomas
Kairos Jenny Erpenbeck
Exhibit R.O. Kwon
All Fours Miranda July
The Year of Living Constitutionally A.J. Jacobs
Ghosted Jana Eisenstein
Disease Of Kings Anders Carlson-Wee
Why We’re Polarized Ezra Klein
Molly Blake Butler
The Big Bang of Numbers Manil Suri
Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow Steve Almond
Doppelganger Naomi Klein
King Jonathan Eig
The Rachel Incident Caroline O’Donoghue
The End of Loneliness Benedict Wells
Poverty, by America Matthew Desmond
The Trees Percival Everett
The Great Experiment Yascha Mounk
Study for Obedience Sarah Bernstein
Some People Need Killing Patricia Evangelista
The Words That Remain Stênio Gardel
Pageboy Elliot Page
Post-Traumatic Chantal V. Johnson
Stuart: A Life Backwards Alexander Masters
The Girls / The Guest Emma Cline
Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs Kerry Howley
The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Gogol
I’m Glad My Mom Died Jennette McCurdy
Unlearn Your Pain Howard Schubiner with Michael Betzold
The Way Out Alan Gordon with Alon Ziv
The Best Minds Jonathan Rosen
Monsters Claire Dederer
Spare Prince Harry
As I Lay Dying William Faulkner
Rebuilt Michael Chorost
Losing Music John Cotter
Kokoro Natsume Sōseki
Party Going / Living / Loving Henry Green
Chatter Ethan Kross
Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald
Stay True Hua Hsu
The Invisible Kingdom Meghan O’Rourke
How to Be Perfect Michael Schur
Orfeo Richard Powers
Unwinding Anxiety Judson Brewer
The Confidence Men Margalit Fox
Liberation Day George Saunders
Pandora’s Jar Natalie Haynes
Night of the Living Rez Morgan Talty
The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm
Mislaid Nell Zink
Exercised Daniel E. Lieberman
Lapvona Ottessa Moshfegh
Empire of Pain Patrick Radden Keefe
Furious Hours Casey Cep
First Person Singular Haruki Murakami
Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro
Dead Souls Sam Riviere
The Pale King David Foster Wallace
Lightning Flowers Katherine E. Standefer
Beautiful World, Where Are You / Normal People / Conversations With Friends Sally Rooney
Swan Dive Georgina Pazcoguin
A Passage North Anuk Arudpragasam
Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis
Projections Karl Deisseroth
The Indian Lawyer James Welch
Atomic Habits James Clear
The History of Philosophy A. C. Grayling
Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
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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Best. Modern. Books.

Intellectually great nonfiction. Artistically great fiction and poetry. Get the inside scoop on the best 21st-century books, every Monday!
 
Your free gift: 20 Best Books in the Last 10 Years