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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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Book Previews

Was Amanda Knox Wrongfully Convicted? Where Is Amanda Knox Now?

June 30, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
I heard a podcast interview with Amanda Knox; I was impressed. She’s well-spoken and expresses herself in an open and honest manner. I read her recent book; I was even more impressed. She’s a delightful writer and reveals herself to be a wisdom seeker in the face of tragic misfortune. If you’re wondering, who is Amanda Knox?β€”there’s no need to...
video gamer holding a controller.
Guest Posts

Video Gaming and the Addictive Thrill of Artistic Creation

June 23, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Enjoy the following guest post by Peter McDade, a writer and musician I met virtually in a Facebook group. He wrote this article about one of his favorite modern novels. (If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please view my guidelines.) I’M GOING TO BEGIN TELLING you about a book I love by telling you some...
sad man sitting on couch in dark room
Book Previews

All’s Fair in Love and Abuse

April 7, 2025 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Hey blog readers, book lovers, and thinkers! Major! Trigger! Warning! Today, I’d like to share with you a very long book that I immersed myself in for three weeks straight. At 720 pages, this was an investment. Was it worth it? I debated myself for a long time about whether I should write about this book on the blog. I...
people at a restaurant
Incidental Musings

6 Tips for Conquering Social Isolation and Loneliness

December 30, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Do you feel lonely or socially isolated? If so—wait for it—you’re not alone. Recently, I was a panelist at an event called “Conquering Social Isolation and Loneliness.” Today, I will share the insights I shared at the event, for those who couldn’t make it in person. Tip #1: Know that you have the power to reduce your isolation and loneliness....
4 photos of groups of friends in a grid layout.
Book Previews

What Is a Platonic Life Partner? A Book on Reframing Friendship

December 2, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
For many years, I have wished that there was a term in the English language for a particular relationship I have. A term like “special friend,” “platonic friendship with love,” or “friend who’s like a sister to me.” Something more than “one of my very best friends,” but less than “platonic life partner.” Something more than “non-blood relative by marriage,”...
woman on coast of Ireland
Book Previews

Love and Money in Ireland

April 3, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Here’s a fun novel, published last year. The Rachel Incident, by Caroline O’Donoghue, is about a college student who works at a bookstore along with her best friend. It’s about them and their love interests—and there’s tons of drama where that’s concerned. Also, the book is set in Ireland, and some fun Irish slang is tossed around. And this novel...
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...
leaning head on someone's shoulder
Book Previews

Anxiety and Friendship

April 26, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
“It did make Julia feel very nervous and she moved to Alex where he happened to be teasing Angela because he might be nervous too which would comfort her. People who weren’t nervous were useless because they did not know what it meant . . .” —Henry Green, Party Going Misery loves company? I have a history of being a...
two men and trees in sunlight
Book Previews

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...
dawn with a tree and boats and water
Book Previews

Listening Harder

September 1, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
This one is very important and very beautiful. Here is an interesting paragraph, plopped seemingly on a random page, in the book Dusk, Night, Dawn by Anne Lamott: “My friends are the low note that hold me. Love is the whisper of wire drum-brushes. And while everyone has to make a living and show up for family, listening is optional:...
emoji with hearts and smiling blushing face
Incidental Musings

My Gratitude Practice: An Update

February 5, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I want to share how things are going with the gratitude practice my friend and I initiated a few weeks ago. Since research shows that cultivating gratitude can increase happiness, my friend and I started texting each other every night. In the texts, we would each list three things we were grateful for that day. (I wrote about the genesis...
emoji with hearts and smiling blushing face
Incidental Musings

I’m Grateful for This Idea

January 4, 2021 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
A week or two ago, a friend of mine shared with me that they stopped taking their antidepressant. They had been experiencing a bunch of weird side effects—many of which I had never heard of before—and it sounded awful. When I was on antidepressants, I also experienced numerous frustrating side effects. (I’m on a different class of meds now, complete...
washing a fork over a sink
Book Previews

How to Make a Friend

August 19, 2020 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments
There’s something strange about friendship. I used to think, in the ignorance of youth, that it wasn’t possible to be true friends with someone unless there were common interests and beliefs. I used to think that there could be cooperation between such people, but not true friendship. As a result, I shied away from people a lot . . ....
man about town wearing glasses, a tie and vest, a white shirt, and a chain, with hands in pockets, looking very cool and confident
Book Previews

Advice and Microaggression

April 10, 2020 by Liza Achilles 6 Comments
There’s someone in your life you can rely upon to give you sound advice. This person knows exactly what’s missing, or over the top, in your outfit. This person knows just how you should respond to that tricky situation at work. This person has impeccable artistic taste, a comprehensive knowledge of wines and mixed drinks, and a strange and rare...
woman reading in darkened room
News & Events

Can’t Concentrate on Anything Not Disease or Quarantine Related?

March 27, 2020 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
Are any of you book lovers struggling, as I am, to read the books on your bedside table right now? I’m drawn to the news, to the big topics of the day. I was commiserating with a friend about this, and she spontaneously thought up a list of readings, ranging from centuries ago to the present day, having to do...
hand rising from dark ocean under cloudy sky
Incidental Musings

Managing My Anxiety During a Time of Mass Anxiety

March 23, 2020 by Liza Achilles 21 Comments
I’ve been battling my old anxiety demons continuously since my concussion setback. That was seven weeks ago. The concussion symptoms themselves were sorta kinda back to okay within two weeks, though some of the symptoms persisted a few weeks longer. But the anxiety and panic ballooned and ballooned until they once again started afflicting me with physical symptoms that prevented...
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Hi! I’m Liza

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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 (5)
  • Book Previews (337)
  • Guest Posts (6)
  • Incidental Musings (157)
  • News & Events (66)
  • Tales (80)

Featured books


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

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 StΓͺnio 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 EsmΓ© 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
EugΓ©nie Grandet HonorΓ© 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 BrenΓ© Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Γ‰mile 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 SeaΒ 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, every Monday!
 
Your free gift: 20 Best Books in the Last 10 Years