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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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Modern Shakespearean love sonnets

TWO NOVEMBERS by Liza Achilles - front cover - square transparentTwo Novembers: A Memoir of Love ’n’ Sex in Sonnets is available at Bookshop, Beltway Editions, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. This candid and humorous book chronicles my love life in Shakespearean sonnets. Learn more.

Events in Washington, DC, & beyond

Liza Achilles performing at a micAttend a workshop on having a successful book launch or memoir writing. Sign up for a class on Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Go to a poetry reading featuring Two Novembers. Get involved in the literary community! View my upcoming events.

Welcome to the Blog for the Discerning Reader

This blog features the best books of modern times. Intellectually great nonfiction. Artistically great fiction and poetry.
What’s new in the literary book world? Find out here on (some) Mondays. Scroll down to read the most recent posts.

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Book Previews

Talking on the Phone as a Cyborg

June 16, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
When Michael Chorost’s cochlear implant is first turned on—as he describes in his memoir Rebuilt—he can understand little of the inputs the device gives him. He can hear noises, to be sure; but they sound electronic and unfathomable. But as time passes, he begins to identify more and more of the sounds around him, including human speech. One moment of...
red circuit board
Book Previews

How to Be a Cyborg

June 14, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
I just read a book that picked up where the last book I read left off. I recently previewed Losing Music, by John Cotter, a memoir about a man losing his hearing and the turmoil this causes in his life (click here to read these blog posts). Today I’m going to preview a memoir about a man who loses his...
woman holding a phone
Incidental Musings

A Bad Habit Sneaking Up

June 12, 2023 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
A bad habit has been sneaking up on me lately. I have noticed that, while reading, I have been checking my phone every page or so. Sometimes I’ll check it after each paragraph. That’s a bad habit that didn’t haunt me for a long time. Especially during the dark days of my post-concussion syndrome, when I had trouble reading more...
open red black white book
Incidental Musings

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Book Publishing

June 7, 2023 by Liza Achilles 6 Comments
My first book is coming out in 2024, and so I’ve been plunged into the exciting and slightly scary world of book publishing. I thought I’d share with you some of the activities going on behind the scenes to move the book through the publishing process. I signed a contract with my publisher, Beltway Editions. I hired a lawyer who...
notifications on a phone
Incidental Musings

Intentionally Broken

June 5, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Have you noticed that notifications, by and large, don’t work properly? Social media notifications will continue popping up after you have cleared them, or they show irrelevant information that aren’t actual notifications. Phone notifications don’t appear when they should. My dating app only notifies me about a new message half the time. Is it really possible that this technology is...
monarch butterfly on a hightop shoe
Book Previews

Transformation

June 2, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
John Cotter undergoes a profound transformation, as he chronicles in his memoir, Losing Music. Yes, he is transformed by his illness in physical ways—in what he can and cannot do, and how he manages his symptoms. But he is also transformed in his personality and outlook. Near the beginning of his illness, he gets in an argument with his wife....
four people eating out
Book Previews

I’d Forgotten

May 31, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
“Life is fascinating. I’d been so down on myself about my illness—what it had taken from me—I felt half amazed three strangers would want to talk to me so long and so late. I’d forgotten I had any worth, that I wasn’t just a set of bad sensations in the dark.” —John Cotter, Losing Music I can totally relate. When...
man with hearing aid in ear
Book Previews

Losing Music by John Cotter

May 29, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
John Cotter was in his thirties when he started to experience intermittent deafness. And not only that—he suffered from a loud roar in his ears. He also suffered from such severe vertigo that there were stretches of days and even months when he could scarcely get out of bed, as the room spun around him. His symptoms came and went;...
woman in colorful dress hugging herself
Incidental Musings

Just Be Yourself

May 26, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Have you ever been told to “Just be yourself” when you are nervous about an upcoming social situation? I have—I clearly remember this occurring when I was in high school. And I recently heard this advice given on the TV show Ted Lasso. But what does it mean to be yourself? According to Buddhists, there is no self. I believe...
two plus size women in a pool hugging
Incidental Musings

A Healthy, Natural Attraction

May 24, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
“But why is a healthy, natural attraction to fat bodies so difficult for us collectively to believe? Why do we so readily accept that thin bodies are universally desired and lovable, while so certainly rejecting the same prospect for fat bodies?” —Aubrey Gordon, What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat Anti-fat bias is a huge problem in...
person in ghost costume waving
Incidental Musings

Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter

May 22, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
The New Yorker article was so good it made me want to buy the book. So I placed it on hold at the library, and I’m now waiting behind hundreds of people. I’m talking about the New Yorker article “The Ghostwriter” (published online as Notes From Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter), by J. R. Moehringer, who ghostwrote Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare. Moehringer...
spinning around in a circle
Incidental Musings

Are We Going in a Circle?

May 19, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I find myself reading a hardcore philosophy book once again. I am drawn to these books. I do not mind working hard to understand a book, but working hard to achieve but little understanding seems futile. And yet, every once in a while, I run across a gem of a quote that I do understand, that I do connect with—and...
camera split into all of its smaller parts
Incidental Musings

How to Tackle a Hard Problem

May 17, 2023 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
A quotation by Descartes popped up twice in my reading for the week, in two different sources. I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something. The quotation in question is the second of four points that Descartes made in 1637 in part II of his work Discourse on Method: “The second, to divide each of the difficulties...
painted red heart on blue background
News & Events

My Book Is Being Published!!

May 15, 2023 by Liza Achilles 16 Comments
I am excited and honored to announce that Beltway Editions will be publishing my book of poetry! The book is called Two Novembers: A Memoir of Love ’n’ Sex in Sonnets. In 2016, I fell in love and began writing Shakespearean sonnets addressed to my love interest. Over the next year, November 2016 through November 2017 (hence the title of...
cartoon art of the inquisitive one running through trees
Tales

The Inquisitive One Takes a Survey

May 12, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
The inquisitive one was talking to an insurance customer service representative on the phone. At the end of the call, the rep asked the i.o. to take a short survey regarding the service received today. “Sure, I’ll take a survey” said the inquisitive one. “Surveys are fun!” The inquisitive one listened to an automated voice give the survey. The i.o....
regular window frames of a building pink
Book Previews

Notes on Kokoro

May 10, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Today I’d like to share a few interesting quirks of Kokoro, by Natsume Sōseki. First of all, there are 110 chapters in this novel, and they are all the same length. How on earth did Sōseki pull that off? I suppose the chapters are not precisely the same length; some are 2 pages long, some are slightly more than 2...
three monkeys in India
Incidental Musings

Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

November 4, 2020 by Liza Achilles 26 Comments
I recently met a guy who disclosed to me that his personal motto is “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” Despite this expression having been popular for a number of years—it’s all over the Internet—I did not remember hearing it before. But I instantly took to it. What lovely imagery. And what lovely meaning: so metaphorical, yet so obvious. At...
windmills in Consuegra Spain
Book Previews

Don Quixote: What’s the Best Translation?

February 10, 2021 by Liza Achilles 8 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...
sunset over ocean, dark aesthetic.
Book Previews

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

December 16, 2024 by Liza Achilles 10 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...
riding a horse in front of the sun
Book Previews

Three Don Quixote Translations: Spanish to English

February 12, 2021 by Liza Achilles 16 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...
woman shocked with hands to head - for blog post on it's all in your head meaning
Incidental Musings

“It’s All in Your Head!” . . . Meaning . . . What?

September 9, 2024 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
Is there someone in your life you’d like to insult, but can’t decide how? For maximal negative impact—if not maximal logic—I humbly suggest, to all jerks and bullies, “It’s all in your head!” For some reason, unkind people like to throw around “It’s all in your head,” meaning by this, “You’re imagining something with no basis in reality!” Or, more...
small room in winter as woman drinks hot beverage on a bed in a tiny house
Book Previews

The Psychological Effects of Living in a Small Space

February 3, 2021 by Liza Achilles 4 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...
sheep
Book Previews

Why Is It Called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

August 4, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
This is something of a convoluted story. The famous 1968 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick has an unusual title. It’s quite long for a book title, and it ends with a question mark. What’s more, there are few clues within the book itself as to why it’s titled as it is. And so, the question of the hour...
deck of cards thrown randomly down
Incidental Musings

You Play Stupid Games, You Win Stupid Prizes

March 16, 2020 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments
Do you remember that card game called War? Was it only Gen X’ers like me who played this game as a kid? Do you older and younger folk also remember draggingly long afternoons when Mom was taking forever to start making dinner, and there was nothing on TV, and you had no one to play with except your staggeringly stupid...
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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 (7)
  • Book Previews (348)
  • Guest Posts (8)
  • Incidental Musings (158)
  • News & Events (70)
  • Tales (82)

Featured books


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

Vigil George Saunders
When Nothing Feels Real Nathan Dunne
Just Love Me for Who I Am James Styers
The Glory of Giving Everything Crystal Haryanto
Strange Houses Uketsu
On the Calculation of Volume II Solvej Balle
The Literati Susan Coll
Bring the House Down Charlotte Runcie
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain George Saunders
Intimacies Katie Kitamura
On the Calculation of Volume I Solvej Balle
Hunchback Saou Ichikawa
Pop! Mark Polanzak
Dreaming Reality Steven Jay Lynn & Vladimir Miskovic
Audition Katie Kitamura
Free Amanda Knox
The Pleasure Plan Laura Zam
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 StĆŖnio 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 EsmƩ 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
EugƩnie Grandet HonorƩ 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 BrenƩ Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Ɖmile 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 SeaĀ Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf

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     šŸ›’  Buy my debut book Two Novembers at Politics & Prose, The Ivy Bookshop, Bookshop, Beltway Editions, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
     šŸšš  Review Two Novembers on Amazon. This helps more than you know. Thank you.
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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!
 
Your free gift: 20 Best Books in the Last 10 Years