Liza Achilles

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Chatter by Ethan Kross

April 5, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments

Attending musical competitions when I was in middle and high school was a challenge of the mind. I played piano and trumpet, and it was piano performance that especially vexed me. I was used to playing my trumpet before an audience every day in band class, but only my piano teacher and my family ever heard me play the piano....

Incidental Musings

The Variety Pack

April 3, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments

Like a bouquet of flowers that are all different and make a stunning arrangement, variety in book reading creates a pleasing and grounded balance. Some people adhere to only one genre and derive much pleasure from their all-alike bouquet of roses. But this strategy risks a loss of worldliness and understanding that a variety pack might bring. I personally try...

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The Fear of Deciding For Yourself

March 31, 2023 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments

One of the most pivotal moments in Tender Is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, comes when the character Nicole realizes that she has been abdicating her power to her husband for their entire marriage, and that she must now take that power back. Despite her history of mental illness, she must overcome her submissiveness and start thinking for herself....

World War One British memorial to the missing of the Somme at Thiepval France

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Touring a WWI Battlefield in France

March 29, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments

Some of the characters in Tender Is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tour a World War I battlefield in France. A young woman, Rosemary, sheds some tears over the relatively recent war and the loss of life. But then Fitzgerald notes this: “Later she remembered all the hours of the afternoon as happy—one of those uneventful times that seem...

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Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

March 27, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments

What a vivid, unique, and not altogether felicitous book. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald stopped me dead in my tracks many times . . . often in good ways . . . but also in bad ways. The Good Aspects of Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald As expected for a classic Fitzgerald novel, there...

Incidental Musings

Waiting in the Wings

March 24, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments

My advice to you is to always have a few good books waiting in the wings. Two weeks ago, I wrote about reading a second book simultaneously with a first, if the first is difficult or not adequately holding the interest. I was engaging in this endeavor last week, but my plan backfired because the second book I chose to...

cartoon art of the inquisitive one running through trees

Tales

The Inquisitive One Writes a Poem

March 22, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments

The inquisitive one sat down and wrote a poem. It went like this: !!!!!!!!!??????,,,,,,, ,,,,,,???????!!!!!!!!! !!!!,,,,?,,,,,!!!!,,,? ??????,,!,!,!,!,!,!!!! Satisfied, the inquisitive one smiled and went out for a run. The next day, the i.o. reread the poem and frowned. It was not quite right. So the i.o. edited the poem. It now went like this: !……..??????,,,,, ,,,,???????……..! !…,,,,?,,,!!!!,,,? ??????,,.,…,.,!!!! Satisfied, the...

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Stay True by Hua Hsu

March 20, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments

“I thought college was where I would find my people, which I assumed meant people who dressed like me, and listened to the same music as me, and wanted to see the same movies as me. Variations on the theme of me. But I realized, maybe too late, that all I wanted was friends to listen to music with.” —Hua...

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In the Middle of the Night

March 17, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments

“In the middle of the night, when I woke in the dark with my heart pounding, what really terrified me was the conviction that my doctors did not believe me, and so I would never have partners in my search for answers—and treatments. How could I get better if no one thought I was sick?” —Meghan O’Rourke, The Invisible Kingdom...

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The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O’Rourke

March 15, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments

I have been reading a lot of books on health lately. I have noticed that, when looking for a pithy statement from authority, everyone wants to quote Susan Sontag or Virginia Woolf. There’s a new dog in town: Meghan O’Rourke. Her book The Invisible Kingdom, part memoir about her chronic illness and part in-depth examination of chronic illness, is full...

Incidental Musings

The Humanities Major

March 13, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments

Did you see the recent New Yorker article called The End of the English Major, by Nathan Heller? “During the past decade, the study of English and history has fallen by a full third. Humanities enrollment in the United States has declined over all by seventeen per cent . . .” —Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, The End of the...

Incidental Musings

How Many Books Do You Read at Once?

March 10, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments

In a work team-building activity at a previous job, all of us employees were standing in the middle of a room. The leader of the activity said, if you read only one book at a time, stand in this corner of the room. If you read multiple books at a time, stand in that corner of the room. The employees...

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How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur

March 8, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments

Have you ever tried reading a book of philosophy, written by an actual philosopher? I have, and it’s demoralizing. Here I was, thinking I was a good reader, excellent in fact, but then why can’t I make a single bit of sense out of this text? I am a person who needs a dumbed-down version to understand philosophy. But the...

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What’s the Point, If You Can’t Do What You Love?

March 6, 2023 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments

As I continue to do battle with my concussion, I occasionally sink into despair. What is the point of living, if you can’t do things you love? I found comfort in a 2022 popular philosophy book, How to Be Perfect, by Michael Schur, who created the TV show The Good Place (and worked on many other shows including The Office...

Incidental Musings

The Danger of Words

February 27, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments

Sometimes when words are written, they pass, unnoticed, or mostly so, into dust. Other times, they cause riots in the streets. “If there was going to be a fuss, Rushdie figured, it would pass soon enough.” —David Remnick, The New Yorker, “Defiance” (print) and The Defiance of Salman Rushdie (web) The fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie for writing the novel...

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There Are No Mistakes

February 17, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments

The following passage from the novel Orfeo resonated with me, as a fallible human being. Note that it refers to the avant-garde composer John Cage: “Maybe I made a mistake. But Cage says: A ‘mistake’ is beside the point. Once anything happens, it authentically is.” —Richard Powers, Orfeo Of course, this is a reference to John Cage’s contention that any...

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...

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Don Quixote: What’s the Best Translation?

February 10, 2021 by Liza Achilles 6 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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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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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

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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...

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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...

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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Featured books

candlestick with lit candle on round table with books in living room

Note that the link for the most recently added book(s) will not work until I have published the corresponding blog post.

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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