Liza Achilles - Literary/Autobiographical Author. The Blog for the Discerning Reader.
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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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This banned books week, read a banned book. ala.org
Incidental Musings

Let’s Fight Censorship Together

October 16, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Whenever I hear that a book has been banned, it makes me wonder what’s in that book. What don’t they want me to read? What don’t they want me to learn? Don’t they trust me to make up my own mind about what’s good information and what’s bogus? Check out this infographic created by the American Library Association (ALA). Look...
professional woman working from home
Incidental Musings

Sitting All Day

October 9, 2023 by Liza Achilles 6 Comments
Did you catch the recent Washington Post article about the dangers of sitting too much? “The negative effects of extended sitting can be so strong, researchers found, that even people who exercise regularly face higher risk if they sit for much of the day.” —Sitting All Day Increases Dementia Risk — Even If You Exercise, The Washington Post Apparently, sitting...
girl crying in sunlight
Book Previews

Crying on Cue

September 20, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
At age 11, Jennette McCurdy creates a resume, with help from her mom. It lists her past performances and includes a Special Skills section. The most prized Special Skill for a child actor, according to McCurdy, is crying on cue. McCurdy learns this skill, as she describes in her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died, with the help of her...
camera men and woman by window
Book Previews

TV and Disordered Eating

September 18, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Shockingly, Jennette McCurdy’s mother teaches her an eating disorder when she is a child: anorexia. Later in her life, McCurdy goes through a time of binge eating. And later, a time of bulimia. Her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died is a sad but courageously true account of these disorders from a first-person perspective. McCurdy writes about a meal she...
Silent Book Club logo black border
News & Events

Silent Book Club Is in Bethesda Magazine

September 15, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
The Rockville chapter of Silent Book Club, which I organize and host, is featured in Bethesda Magazine! Check out page 36 of the September/October 2023 Digital Edition. I am featured in the article, along with one of the founders of Silent Book Club and some members of my local club. I’m proud to be part of this worldwide endeavor to...
reading by an afghan
Incidental Musings

A Nonfiction Kick

September 13, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Dear Blog Readers, Clearly, I’m on a nonfiction kick. Eight out of the last nine previewed books have been nonfictional (and most of these have been memoirs). My original concept for this blog was to keep it 50-50 fiction and nonfiction. But there are no rules here, folks. Or rather, there are no unbreakable rules. To any fiction lovers out...
casket with flowers in hearse
Book Previews

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

September 11, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
And the winner of the most shocking book title of the decade goes to . . . I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy. McCurdy starred on Nickelodeon TV shows as a child. In her well-written and gut-wrenching memoir, she chronicles her unusual childhood. Her mother is a colorful character whose most cherished wish is not to die of...
person reaching toward neck with halo
Book Previews

Final Thoughts on Mind Body Syndrome

September 8, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
“I rarely see people who are selfish and narcissistic in this program. Rather, it is the ‘good and kind’ people of the world who tend to suffer with Mind Body Syndrome.” —Howard Schubiner with Michael Betzold, Unlearn Your Pain, Fourth Edition Why, thank you for the compliment. I’m blushing. But what kind of perverse, reverse karma is this? I’m a...
brain
Book Previews

Mind Body Syndrome Can Do All This

September 6, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
“Almost any symptom can be caused by [mind body syndrome (MBS)], just as any symptom can be caused by a medical or structural problem. Over the years, I have seen people with a variety of unusual symptoms that are due to MBS, such as burning of the mouth, ears, hands, or feet, tingling or electric sensations of almost any body...
shoulder and neck black and white
Book Previews

Unlearn Your Pain, Fourth Edition, by Howard Schubiner With Michael Betzold

September 4, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
The second groundbreaking book I recently read on the topic of chronic pain is Unlearn Your Pain, Fourth Edition, by Howard Schubiner with Michael Betzold. In contrast to the slender, fun, anecdote-packed The Way Out (read my blog posts on this book here), Unlearn Your Pain is more of a textbook/workbook. While the book can be ponderous and repetitive, this...
cartoon art of the inquisitive one running through trees
Tales

The Inquisitive One Passes Someone

September 1, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
The inquisitive one was running. Up ahead, moving in the same direction as the i.o., was a woman with a baby carriage and six dogs. The i.o. imagined the worst-case scenario, which was in fact quite likely: getting tangled up in all six of the leashes, flailing about and knocking the baby carriage over, and all the chaos which would...
clam by ocean
News & Events

Six Poems Published in Exacting Clam!

August 30, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
My poetry collection, Two Novembers, is being published by Beltway Editions, coming out in 2024. Do you want a sneak peek at some of the poems in the collection? Here’s an opportunity! You can find six of my poems in the Autumn 2023 edition of Exacting Clam: Exacting Clam No. 10. If you’d like to own a physical copy of...
man in leather jacket with back pain
Book Previews

Do I Have Physical Pain or Chronic Pain?

August 28, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
“. . . all pain feels like it’s coming from the body . . .” In their short and fascinating and incredibly well-written book The Way Out, Alan Gordon with Alon Ziv emphasize that, as far as how it is perceived, pain is pain is pain. It feels exactly the same, whether it has a physical cause or whether the...
Finland graffiti of man in pain or stress
Book Previews

What Types of Fear Cause Chronic Pain?

August 25, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Alan Gordon with Alon Ziv identify three types of fear that can cause a person to develop chronic pain, in their 2021 book The Way Out. Synonyms for fear include anxiety, stress, worry, and a state of high alert. All of these terms refer to the same situation in the brain: the situation of being in danger. I was shocked...
man holding his back with red background
Book Previews

The Way Out by Alan Gordon With Alon Ziv

August 23, 2023 by Liza Achilles 6 Comments
Two groundbreaking books have recently been published on the topic of chronic pain. I read both because I wanted to do a deeper dive into the origins and meaning of my 4-year battle with post-concussion syndrome. I read these books even though I was already cured of my headaches and dizziness through the Curable app. (I am not affiliated with...
homeless person sleeping on cardboard
Book Previews

Deinstitutionalization

August 18, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Deinstitutionalization, according to Britannica, is the “movement that advocates the transfer of mentally disabled people from public or private institutions, such as psychiatric hospitals, back to their families or into community-based homes.” The movement started in the 1950s, when effective antipsychotic medications started to become available, and really took off in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, the percentage of people...
three monkeys in India
Incidental Musings

Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

November 4, 2020 by Liza Achilles 30 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 12 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 (349)
  • 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.

On the Calculation of Volume III Solvej Balle
Joyride Susan Orlean
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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Best modern books

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From the book tour

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  • Liza Achilles on Everyone’s Asking: Should I Read Huckleberry Finn Before James?
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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.
     šŸ“£  Join my street team to help promote my next book, a literary/autobiographical novel.

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     šŸ“©  Subscribe to The Blog for the Discerning Reader to receive it in your inbox on Mondays.
     šŸŽ  Be a literary donor hero(ine)! Support the blog and my novel writing on GoFundMe.
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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