Liza Achilles - Literary/Autobiographical Author. The Blog for the Discerning Reader.
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Services
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
Home
Bio
Publications
Events
Services
Press
Contact
Subscribe
Liza Achilles - Literary/Autobiographical Author. The Blog for the Discerning Reader.

Literary / Autobiographical Author

❤ Books to make you laugh, hope & ponder ❤


Let's be social! Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | LinkedIn
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Services
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
Mysterious woman by the water
Book Previews

Mystery Like a Great Sea (LBC)

August 19, 2024 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
It’s Liza’s Book Club day! Did you read All Fours by Miranda July along with me? Like all of July’s books, this one did not disappoint. Or I should say—it did not disappoint once I got going. I found the first few chapters puzzling. I was expecting weirdness and comedy, because that’s July’s usual schtick. But this protagonist was weirder...
planner with pencil and phone and glass of water in bright home office
Incidental Musings

2024 Resolutions

January 1, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
I had an epiphany a few weeks ago. It was one of those epiphanies rooted in ugliness and despair. I had made some bad decisions and landed myself in misery for several days. From this came the understanding that I can prevent a similar situation in the future by implementing better rules for myself and boundaries with others. I started...
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...
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...
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...
four people eating out
Book Previews

I’d Forgotten

May 31, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
“Life is fascinating. I’d been so down on myself about my illness—what it had taken from me—I felt half amazed three strangers would want to talk to me so long and so late. I’d forgotten I had any worth, that I wasn’t just a set of bad sensations in the dark.” —John Cotter, Losing Music I can totally relate. When...
bed at night
Book Previews

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...
sleeping in bed
Book Previews

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...
snowy landscape
Incidental Musings

Blessings

February 10, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
It’s February—how are you doing on those New Year’s resolutions (or other goals)? If there’s something you really want from life, I’m here to quietly urge you not to give up. So much more is possible than we think. I don’t believe that every imaginable miracle will occur, just through hoping. But small blessings happen every day. Furthermore, small blessings...
goals planner with scissors and paper clips
Incidental Musings

Thoughts for the New Year

January 4, 2023 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
What a pleasure it was to select the perfect 2023 weekly planner online. My mail carrier heedlessly smashed the package into my mailbox, but the planner inside turned out to be fine. Beautiful, in fact. I have always loved notebooks and such, as well as organizational methods. I have been enjoying planning out the details of my week this week....
pink fish
Incidental Musings

4th Annual Christmas Rant!!!!

December 26, 2022 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Bet you thought I forgot about the annual Christmas rant tradition. Or was too laid up to get ’er done. But no, think again! Here, henceforth, I bless you with . . . . . . the 4th Annual Christmas Rant!!!! First of all, (ah-hem, I say into the microphone, silver gown glittering) I would like to thank all of...
walking up steps
Book Previews

Exercised by Daniel E. Lieberman

October 17, 2022 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Everyone knows that exercise is good for you (as noted in my last blog post). But do you know why that’s the case? What’s the science behind why we must exercise to stay healthy? Do you know how people in modern, first-world countries compare to traditional hunter-gatherers in their exercise levels? Do you know how modern humans compare to our...
leeks and carrots and other vegetables at market
Incidental Musings

It Bears Repeating

October 14, 2022 by Liza Achilles No Comments
“The food I eat and the amount I exercise are antidepressants that I prescribe.” —Alex Riley, A Cure for Darkness We have all heard that a healthy diet and enough exercise are good for you. But it bears repeating that they are really, really, really good for you. I keep reading about this, over and over, in various books and...
cartoon art of the inquisitive one running through trees
Tales

The Inquisitive One Takes Pills

July 22, 2022 by Liza Achilles No Comments
The inquisitive one takes so many pills that it is hard to keep track of them all. So the inquisitive one bought one of those Sunday thru Saturday, am and pm, pill boxes. Every Sunday morning, the inquisitive one fills the Sunday thru Saturday, am and pm, pill box. The inquisitive one does this very carefully, as a screw-up could...
lightning
Book Previews

Lightning Flowers by Katherine E. Standefer

March 14, 2022 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Katherine E. Standefer had a problem. A device implanted in her heart was giving her massive shocks when it wasn’t supposed to. She was due for heart surgery, but she didn’t have health insurance. She was forced to give up the life she had loved as a rugged outdoorswoman, due to a genetic heart condition. But her main problem, above...
flowers pen letter
News & Events

Update on the Memoir and My Health

March 7, 2022 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Hi Blog Readers, I’m writing to give you an update. My memoir writing is going well. I’m about 5/8 of the way through. I have stopped writing for a bit because I need to reread some books that I read and learned from at crucial points in my life. In the meantime, I may have time to write a few...
Load more posts
Page 1 of 41234»

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 (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) 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 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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Search

Archives

Best modern books

books wrapped with peach colored flowers with heart and sweater - square Get the inside scoop on the best 21st-century books. Your free gift:

20 Best Books in the Last 10 Years

Frequent tags

anxiety art blogs books bookstores brains children comedy communication concussions dating doctors emotions family fear food friends friendship health history humor Internet love memoir mental health music novels philosophy phones poetry politics psychology publishing reading running science self society the inquisitive one truth wisdom women work writers writing

From the book tour

busboys and poets 071424

Recent comments

  • Liza Achilles on What Is Sexual Trauma Healing & How to Heal Sexual Trauma Now
  • Jehane Spicer on What Is Sexual Trauma Healing & How to Heal Sexual Trauma Now
  • Liza Achilles on We’re in the Information Age. Where’s the Information?
  • Bryan Kornele on We’re in the Information Age. Where’s the Information?
  • Liza Achilles on What Is the Fourth Wave of Feminism? Why Is Feminism Important?
  • Luther Jett on What Is the Fourth Wave of Feminism? Why Is Feminism Important?
  • Liza Achilles on The Inquisitive One Enrolls at Harvard
  • Eleanor Elson Heginbotham on The Inquisitive One Enrolls at Harvard

About this site

eco friendly website

This website is eco-friendly. Click the seal to learn more. Do you want a website for your books, art, music, or small business? GreenGeeks offers fast, secure, eco-friendly web hosting.

Author links

     🛒  Buy my debut book Two Novembers at Politics & Prose, The Ivy Bookshop, Bookshop, Beltway Editions, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
     🚚  Review Two Novembers on Amazon. This helps more than you know. Thank you.
     📣  Join my street team to help promote my next book, a literary/autobiographical novel.

Blog links

     📩  Subscribe to The Blog for the Discerning Reader to receive it in your inbox on Mondays.
     🎁  Join Patreon to support the blog and get bonus articles, sneak peeks, and postcards.
     ✏️  I'm always looking for writers who wish to write a guest blog post. Here are my guidelines.
     👋  Did you know you can say hi to the i.o.?

Can I help you?

I offer the following freelance services:
     📝  Book editing & writing coaching
     🎤️  Speaking & teaching
     💻  WordPress design
Reasonable rates from a skilled and friendly pro. Visit my Services page to learn more. Or simply contact me and let me know how I can help you.
© 2025 Liza Achilles | Privacy Policy | Disclaimers | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Bluesky | LinkedIn | Thanks for visiting my website today!

books wrapped with peach colored flowers with heart and sweater - square

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