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

Modern Shakespearean love sonnets

TWO NOVEMBERS by Liza Achilles - front cover - square transparentTwo Novembers: A Memoir of Love ā€™nā€™ 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 memoir writing workshop. Learn about Shakespeare and his timeless love sonnets. Meet fabulous modern authors and hear them read from their books. Get involved in the literary community in 2025! View all 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, every Monday. Scroll down to read the most recent posts.
geese
Incidental Musings

Geese of a Feather

June 22, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Do you have weekend plans? I often dread going to a social event, but then I have a great time and feel energized afterward. Does this happen to you? Geese are social creatures. We can’t go it alone. We need to be strolling in a group, cool and confident. And moving just as slowly . . . or lackadaisically ....
Yoda dog blanketed in a forest
Tales

The Inquisitive One

June 20, 2018 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
“Aha!” said the inquisitive one. “Now I finally understand!” And then, at some point after that, the inquisitive one understood.    
astronomy
Book Previews

Stardust

June 18, 2018 by Liza Achilles 1 Comment
On starry nights, far from the technicolor of cities, when no responsibilities are boring into the mind and dulling the senses, it’s easy to romanticize the heavens. The stuff above and the stuff below seem radically different. We are earthly; they are ethereal. We are made of dust; they are made of stardust. But what is stardust? The word seems...
spiral galaxy
Book Previews

We Have a Winner

June 15, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
And the award for Best Artistry goes to . . . again . . . the Universe! Congratulations; but you must be weary of winning every year. Not weary? Just ticking on as usual? I see. Actually, to be honest, I don’t. I love to read books like Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine by Alan Lightman, books...
milky way
Book Previews

What’s in an Equation?

June 13, 2018 by Liza Achilles 1 Comment
What’s out there? Alien life forms? Maybe. The physical embodiment of a whole lot of math? Definitely. In Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine, physicist Alan Lightman waxes poetic about math: certainly as worthy a poetic topic as love or longing. He describes an epiphany he had years ago. He had been stuck on a physics problem, when...
seeweed
Book Previews

Wide or Not, What Is It?

June 11, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Q: What is the only sea in the world that does not touch land? A: The wide, wide Sargasso Sea—aka, um, the Sargasso Sea. Q: What’s that? A: It’s a lovely bit of symbolism that Jean Rhys attached to her novel Wide Sargasso Sea. It’s also a large (yes, wide) body of water in the Atlantic Ocean, caused by an...
Book Previews

A Flower of Jamaica

June 8, 2018 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
In honor of my having read Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, on this Friday I’m admiring this lovely flower, digitally captured in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. And I’m reflecting that I’ve never seen a flower like this blooming in my subdivision, or jutting along the pathways through my local forests, or emerging from my nearby lakes; but they...
Nautical rope
Book Previews

The Tied Knot

June 6, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Ah, marriage—the source of so much happiness, handwringing, hope, hell, and high drama that it’s the central subject of a large number of acclaimed novels. In the mid-nineteenth century, Charlotte Brontë wrote Jane Eyre, in which we see a marriage gone so wrong that the wife, raving mad, is locked in the attic. And then, in the mid-twentieth century, Jean...
potato chips
Book Previews

Addiction, Anyone?

June 4, 2018 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Why are so many junk foods advertised as addictive, as if that’s a good thing? No one does addiction like David Foster Wallace. Anyone who’s read Infinite Jest knows that addiction is not a light or joking matter. No, addiction is an all-consuming nightmare. “Reading while waiting for marijuana was out of the question,” notes one of the characters. Darn...
Tennis court flooring
Book Previews

More Than Tennis

June 1, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
So what’s that big book about, anyway? That fat book you’ve been reading for months on end—the one with a blue sky and white cloud on the cover—what’s the deal with that? Is it about the sky? I’ve heard of it, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, but before I commit to such an undertaking as to actually attempt to...
Dinner table with candle
Book Previews

A Prandial Puzzle (A Juicy Jest)

May 30, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Learn a new word, and suddenly you see it everywhere. I ran into more than a few new and strange words in the behemoth I just finished, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. But the one that most jumped out at me was prandial. Prandial and postprandial: relating to a meal and after a meal. Dated to 1820. Usually used...
Bird in the sky
Incidental Musings

Thinking of Space

May 29, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
It’s not just a room (of one’s own) that is needed. We also need room—that is, we need space. Space to think. Space to grow. Space to be. When the traffic is swerving and backed up and blocking you into a lane that feels too narrow . . . When you’ve been trying to make it to the coast, but...
Demolished room with chair and desk
Book Previews

Not What She Had in Mind

May 25, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
A room of one’s own—this is what every woman writer wants and needs. Notice the many glories of this office environment! Such artistry has gone into the decor! (I do love a room with an open window.) I joke, you protest? Ah, but sometimes the best ideas arise from the worst circumstances; am I wrong? What does your ideal office...
Open book
Book Previews

The Only Advice Indeed

May 23, 2018 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
If a book has a forward, introduction, or preface written by someone other than the author, I read it after finishing the book. I don’t want to tarnish my reading experience by learning anything about the contents beforehand. I like to experience the work unadorned so that I can form my own opinions. Also, I hate spoilers. The preface to...
Neat and clean home office
Book Previews

A Self of One’s Own

May 21, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Does a woman writer, in modern times, still need a room of her own, plus enough money to provide her with food, housing, and other necessities? It’s been almost 100 years since Virginia Woolf published her classic book about women and fiction, A Room of One’s Own. Having read it last week, I was astonished by how applicable her thoughts...
Overlooking scenery with water and mountains from a high point
Incidental Musings

View From the Top

May 14, 2018 by Liza Achilles No Comments
I made it to the top! Wow! Look at this lovely vista stretched out before me. The water, the trees, the distant towns, the sky . . . every splash of color is comfortable, serene, and in its rightful place. Ah, what a landscape! What a view! Less metaphorically speaking, I just finished a book. I wrote and wrote, until...
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 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...
sunset over ocean, dark aesthetic.
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...
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

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.

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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