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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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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....
desk calendar pages
News & Events

The Loneliest Month

September 2, 2022 by Liza Achilles No Comments
What’s the loneliest month for a Silent Book Club organizer? Find out in my latest post for the SBC blog. It’s about the changing calendar year and what it means for clubs like mine. Check out the article here! (HINT: It’s not the current month. . . . But seriously, can you guess?)
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Book Previews

All the Lights

December 20, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Of all of Sally Rooney’s novels, her first novel, Conversations With Friends, is the nearest and dearest to my heart. It’s a beautiful story with a surprising conclusion and lots of heartbreak in between. The protagonist is a young college student. This passage, from early in the novel, reveals her life situation in an unusual way: “When I got back...
basketball going through net
Book Previews

A Lifelong Predicament

October 6, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
But the heart of the novel The Indian Lawyer, by James Welch, is not the prisoner Jack Harwood. It is, of course, the Indian lawyer, Sylvester Yellow Calf. Reading about his life is powerfully interesting and thrilling and sad, a human drama you won’t want to miss. The predicament Yellow Calf faces is strongly existent, long before Harwood steps into...
knife stuck into a tree
Book Previews

That Sick, Wrenching Feeling

September 29, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
The ending of the novel slayed me. It continues to slay me, every time I think of it. It’s a jab inside the stomach, a sick, wrenching feeling that can never disperse, but only be masked by other thoughts, until, inevitably, I think of the ending again and get jabbed once more. In the LizaAchilles universe of literary greats, there’s...
woman in forest with red lipstick and red nails holding her face in pain
Incidental Musings

I Lost the Ability to Talk

March 29, 2021 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments
Hi, blog readers. For real, I have lost the ability to talk. There has been some confusion among some of you over the past couple weeks. I’ll try to dispel it; but, honestly, it’s hard to explain. And I’m afraid some of you might not believe me. But it’s the truth. The brain is a strange place. Two-and-a-half weeks ago,...
white stone sculpture of man
Book Previews

Do You Trust the House?

March 5, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
What do you do when you are alone in an unusual place, with very little evidence that might explain your situation? No matter how good of a scientist you are, some questions cannot be answered. No matter how many benevolent entities surround you, you are still ultimately alone. What do you do? Here is one of the most touching and...
three nonhuman primates (apes or monkeys or...)
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...
illuminated Christmas lights at night
Book Previews

A Christmas Rant . . . Er, Monologue

December 25, 2019 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments
I present to you the first two sentences of the short story “The Monologue,” by Simone de Beauvoir: “The silly bastards! I drew the curtains they keep the stupid colored lanterns and the fairy lights on the Christmas trees out of the apartment but the noises come in through the walls.” So this, the reader warmly thinks, is a Christmas...
low-tech candle before a high-tech computer
Book Previews

Do You “Like” This Photo?

March 15, 2019 by Liza Achilles No Comments
I already knew, before beginning the book Digital Minimalism, that its author Cal Newport is no fan of social media. He argues against it regularly on his blog. Yep, he draws a distinction between social media and blogging. For example, in his recent blog post On Blogs in the Social Media Age, he explains why popular blogs are more likely...
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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 (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) 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 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

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     🛒  Buy my debut book Two Novembers at Politics & Prose, The Ivy Bookshop, Bookshop, Beltway Editions, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
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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