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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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James Styers headshot and cover image of his book Just Love Me for Who I Am.
Author Interviews

Support Your Trans Child. Here’s Why

November 24, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
When cultural shifts occur, it’s easy to feel lost and confused. It’s easy to have a gut reaction that says, why can’t we do things as we’ve been doing them for decades? Why are people insisting on change, when I was perfectly happy with the old way, and I thought everyone else was, too? The best thing a person in...
Chloe Yelena Miller headshot and Viable cover, a book that can help people looking for ways to heal emotionally from a miscarriage
Author Interviews

How to Heal Emotionally from a Miscarriage

April 28, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
There’s nothing like poetry for emotional healing. I’d like to share a book of poetry written by my friend Chloe Yelena Miller. Titled Viable, it’s a slim collection that packs powerful emotions and reflections. It’s also witty, in a serene and contemplative way. If you’re wondering how to heal emotionally from a miscarriage, this is a fabulous place to turn....
Girl looking toward the sky standing outside
Guest Posts

How One Book Kick-Started My Healing Journey, and Could Do the Same for You!

May 29, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
The following is a guest post by Maria Yahya, a writer and translator from Morocco. My childhood was normal, until it was proved otherwise!   How it all began I have been interested in self-help literature since I was a teenager. We all shared that interest at home, me and my siblings. I remember the day we first discovered a...
Elliot Page at the Library of Congress National Book Festival
Book Previews

Elliot Page’s Story

January 8, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
You know me—I’m not a big movie or TV watcher, since I always have my nose in a book. I’ve only seen a few minutes of the hit 2007 film Juno. I haven’t seen anything else Elliot Page has done, either. So I didn’t come to the 2023 memoir Pageboy as a fan of his acting performances, but as someone...
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...
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...
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...
man playing guitar with baby on couch
Book Previews

Art and Family

July 21, 2023 by Liza Achilles 1 Comment
Claire Dederer points out an unavoidable artist’s problem in her book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma. Talking about this is a bit controversial in today’s social climate, but bear with me. Here’s what she writes: “What the artist or writer or musician needs desperately is time. And what the family needs is time. This conflict is not necessarily solvable. . ....
paintbrushes in a jar
Book Previews

Monsters by Claire Dederer

July 17, 2023 by Liza Achilles 1 Comment
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, a recent nonfiction book by Claire Dederer, is a rumination on the problem of bad people making great art. But I should not write “bad people.” What I mean is “people who have done bad things.” Moreover, Dederer, throughout her book, expands this idea to “people who might or might not have done questionable things, depending...
hearts - Valentines
Incidental Musings

Remember: Resist

February 13, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
At this time of year, I like to remind myself that our society tends to throw around all sorts of messages about a certain holiday coming up (tomorrow) that may or may not be helpful or wholesome for the psyche. Someone on a podcast I was listening to pointed out that there are two Valentine’s Days that run simultaneously: There’s...
little toy men
Book Previews

Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty

January 2, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
I give this story collection the highest number of stars. Each story in Night of the Living Rez, by Morgan Talty, describes a different time in the life of a male resident of an Indian reservation in Maine. Some stories describe scenes from his childhood, while others are about his adulthood. The stories do not appear in chronological order; the...
girl blowing bubbles
News & Events

Update From LizaAchillesLand

October 15, 2021 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
Hi, Blog Readers! I hope you have been enjoying the photographs featured on Photography Friday. I have been diligently using the time gained to submit my poems to literary journals for publication. It’s a big job. Each literary journal has different submission requirements, and each time I submit I must make a careful selection of poems, format them to specification,...
boy sitting near docked boats
Book Previews

Insecure Attachment: Avoidant

March 12, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Although I am featuring a photo of a boy in this article about avoidant attachment, and I featured a photo of a girl in last time’s article about preoccupied attachment, attachment styles can occur in either sex. Also, the passage I quote below uses the “he” pronoun, but in the book it’s made clear that the avoidant child can be...
girl holding old fashioned rotary phone by couch
Book Previews

Insecure Attachment: Preoccupied (or Anxious or Ambivalent)

March 10, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
I’m going to call this attachment style preoccupied, because I think that word suits it best (though others may disagree). The book Becoming Attached, by Robert Karen, uses the term ambivalent. These terms, plus the term anxious, all refer to the same attachment style. It’s an insecure style, which means that somehow things didn’t go well enough during childhood, in...
woman holding child before sea and sky
Book Previews

What Is Attachment Theory?

March 8, 2021 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
Have you heard of attachment theory? When I ask this question, I get a 50/50 response: only half of the people in my circle seem to know about attachment theory. I’m excited to share what I have learned about attachment theory recently, because it has quickly become one of my favorite explanations for life phenomena. Before I understood attachment theory,...
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 (347)
  • 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.

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.

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