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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

Online Dating Red Flags, Scams, and Catfishing: How To Stay Safe

December 9, 2024 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
Ten percent of U.S. adults in a serious relationship met through online dating. For U.S. adults ages 18-29, it’s 20 percent. For LGB adults in the U.S., it’s 24 percent. (Stats are from the Pew Research Center.) Online dating does, for many people who desire marriage or a committed romantic partnership, “work.” But online dating scams take place every day....
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Tales

The Inquisitive One Talks With Jeff Bezos

June 17, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Hey, this is Liza. Just a quick note before we get into today’s tale. My new book Two Novembers is not currently buyable from Amazon due to a mixup in Amazon’s computer system. People who order from Amazon are being shipped a different book. My publisher and I have been trying to resolve this problem for weeks. I apologize for...
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News & Events

Join My Street Team!

February 12, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
This is all very exciting: I just finished reviewing the galleys for my upcoming book. The cover is designed. The inside pages are laid out properly and (hopefully, since I checked it a million times) without typos. Next step: the printer! Two Novembers: A Memoir of Love ’n’ Sex in Sonnets is being published in mid-2024 by Beltway Editions. It...
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Book Previews

Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley

November 8, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
It’s interesting to think about who you are as a person, versus who the internet thinks you are. Who NSA thinks you are. A friend told me recently he fears Google knows him too well. I said, I don’t think Google knows me at all. He said he is too predictable, that’s why. He told me my wide-ranging interests are...
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Book Previews

The Discontinuous Present

December 13, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
It’s hard not to notice that the pace of media has been increasing over our lifetimes. Does anyone out there remember when the news came at certain designated times of day, and could not be accessed at any other time? TV news had certain timeslots. Newspapers came out one a day, or once a week. Internet was not a thing....
snowflake
Incidental Musings

2nd Annual Christmas Rant!!!!

December 21, 2020 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Oh boy, oh boy, get yourself ready. It’s that time of year, folks. Christmas lights hanging like icicles! Children making snowgentlemen and snowladies! And the shimmering, frosty release of the bitter, angry, pissy, woebegotten, godforsaken annual Christmas rant!!!! I bet you didn’t even know there was ANY such THING as an annual Christmas rant. Well, that’s because I just now...
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Incidental Musings

This Is a Blog Post

September 4, 2020 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
This is a blog post. A blog post is extant in cyberspace. The title of said blog post in cyberspace is This Is a Blog Post. This blog post is digitally located on a web server, somewhere on planet Earth. This blog post may have made its way into your email inbox, through means that are quite cryptic to me,...
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Book Previews

Want to Be Happy? Rewire Your Mammalian Neurochemistry

April 13, 2020 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Help! I’ve been cut off from nearly all of my habitual social gatherings! I feel bad and sad! It’s the feeling of loneliness! I’m craving a hug from someone I know and trust! Where’s my hug?! I’m craving an in-person gathering of my best girlfriends, or an in-person gathering of my book club, or, I mean, anyone up for a...
image of respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) virion
Incidental Musings

Best Coronavirus Advice: We Need to Act Now

March 13, 2020 by Liza Achilles 10 Comments
Folks. We need to talk about the coronavirus pandemic. And we need to talk now. (But . . . let’s talk through the Internet or phone—not in person!) There’s a lot of information out there about the coronavirus. Unfortunately, much of it is confusing, contradictory, and/or out of date before it was even published. So today I’d like to highlight...
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Incidental Musings

The Best Handyman

August 14, 2019 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
This is a true story. I have an amazing handyman. He’s the best handyman in my city. I’d even venture to say he’s the best handyman in the Washington, DC, area. In fact, heck—I’d choose him over anyone on earth, for building and fixing sh*t on my property, ’cause I trust him. He built me a chicken coop. He built...
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Incidental Musings

Moments of Wit and Jocularity With Oscar Wilde

July 19, 2019 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Unlike most people I know, I’m not a fan of quotable quotes. More than one sentence is usually needed to fully express an idea. Plus, quotable quotes are often taken out of context and assumed to have a meaning that was never originally intended. And then there is the rampant problem of the misattribution of quotes on the Internet. However,...
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Tales

The Inquisitive One Gets a New Look

July 12, 2019 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
The inquisitive one had been spending a lot of time on social media. The herbs in the garden were documented on Instagram. The new kitchen gadget and new running shoes were documented on Facebook. The vintage furniture steal was documented on Pinterest. And every waking thought was documented on Twitter. All of this photo posting and thought tweeting was starting...
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Incidental Musings

Everything in Moderation, Including Moderation

April 22, 2019 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Everything in moderation, including moderation. Heard that before? Now you have, in any case. Feel free to attribute that quote to me. After all, I wrote it. (Look above, if you don’t believe me.) Take it and run with it, Internet! Origin of the Quote Oh, so you require more persuasion before quoting me on that? You wish to know...
A difficult book to read may be a book worth reading - published in Bologna, 1694
Incidental Musings

How to Read a Difficult Book

April 10, 2019 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Humor me for a moment, and mentally discard all those books that are, in your opinion, page-turners. Any reads that you find to be quick, easy, fun, fascinating, lovely, exciting, or otherwise engrossing are irrelevant to this discussion. Next, add to that discard pile all those books that lack redeeming qualities, as far as you can tell. You’ve read a...
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Book Previews

Overlooked But Not Forgotten

March 22, 2019 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Where did I hear of Penelope Fitzgerald? I can’t remember, but I believe I read about her recently. It’s a subtle feeling, one I can’t substantiate. I could, I suppose, spend hours paging through my precarious stacks of magazines. There’s also the finger-snapping quickness of the Internet—which informs me that some 30 New Yorker articles in the past couple decades...
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Incidental Musings

Technological Mysteries (Part 1)

January 21, 2019 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I would like to discuss with you a modern problem, one that has the potential to strain relationships, upset family members, destroy old friendships, prevent new friendships, and restrict opportunities of all kinds. All this, you say? Yes, the potential for all this, I say. What is this potentially destructive modern problem? you ask. Let me explain through a story,...
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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 (4)
  • Book Previews (334)
  • Guest Posts (5)
  • Incidental Musings (156)
  • News & Events (66)
  • Tales (78)

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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From the book tour

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  • Liza Achilles on The Vegetarian by Han Kang: Analysis of the English Translation
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Author links

     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  Join Patreon to support the blog and get bonus articles, sneak peeks, and postcards.
     āœļø  I'm always looking for writers who wish to write a guest blog post. Here are my guidelines.
     šŸ‘‹  Did you know you can say hi to the i.o.?

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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.
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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