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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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Two Novembers with swag
News & Events

Happy Cyber Monday, Book Lovers!

December 1, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Hey, Book Lovers! Happy Cyber Monday! I hope you are having a wonderful kickoff to the holiday season! In this blog post, I’ll share some information and events with you, including some important news about the future of this blog. Read on! Does someone on your gift list love Shakespeare, modern love stories, witty and humorous books, poetry, and/or memoir?...
floorplan
Book Previews

All of this is very STRANGE.

November 3, 2025 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I can’t speak for all of Japanese literature, but modern Japanese literature that’s available in the U.S. in English translation tends to be simplistic in style, but deep in meaning. I adore this technique. There’s no need for fancy words and sentences, as long as you can get your point across with simple words and sentences. This is not to...
Author Interviews Susan Coll
Author Interviews

An Adorable Romp, Set in Washington, DC, at a Literary Nonprofit

October 20, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
A comedic novel set in Washington, DC, at a literary nonprofit? I’m in! Today I’m excited to feature The Literati, by Susan Coll. Published in 2025, this novel is an adorable romp in which the protagonist encounters no end of wild and crazy problems and somehow manages to not lose her mind. I met Susan at a book launch event...
cartoon art of the inquisitive one running through trees
Tales

The Inquisitive One Writes an Autobiographical Novel

July 14, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Upon feeling a jolt of inspiration, the inquisitive one called up Domino’s and ordered, for delivery, 30 large supreme pizzas and 30 2-liters of Coke. Next, the i.o. went on Amazon and ordered 30 gallons of fresh spring water and 30 large buckets. The i.o. selected the option for FASTEST DELIVERY! GUARANTEED WITHIN 90 MINUTES! DELIVERED BY DRONE WITH PERSONAL...
doors opening into a restaurant
Book Previews

The Best Novel of 2025 So Far! One of the Best Books of 2025!

July 7, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
I get so excited when I find a perfect novel. Let me tell you, my standards are probably way too high for novels. I let nonfiction authors get away with questionable writing if their book contains great ideas. But in my personal conception—and please do feel free to disagree—a novel should contain great ideas and be artistically crafted. So today...
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...
man holding a megaphone and announcing the book Two Novembers
News & Events

Random, Various, and Sundry Announcements and Proclamations

January 27, 2025 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Hiya, Blog Readers! It’s been a hot minute . . . (Good lord, I hate that phrase; is it just me? Maybe it’s just me. Sorry, I’m sure it’s a lovely phrase. It makes me think of cinnamon rolls. But I don’t like pastries all that much, so) . . . since I’ve written to you with updates about my...
Young woman and middle aged man
Book Previews

A Dating Age Gap . . . Is a 34-Year Difference Too Much?

September 1, 2024 by Liza Achilles 6 Comments
She’s 19. He’s 53. This is an acceptable dating age gap, am I right? No moral judgment here. And there is definitely no moral judgment from the author of a gut-wrenching new novel from Germany. An East German couple with a large dating age gap Kairos, by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann, is set in East Germany before the...
Woman crying with a tissue
Book Previews

Oh No, I Have a Napkin

August 26, 2024 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Reaching backward in time, you discover who you are. Stumbling forward in time, you discover who you are becoming. I enjoyed the beautiful literary novel Exhibit, by R.O. Kwon. The protagonist, Jin, is a Korean American art photographer. The story of Jin’s life is interwoven with an ancient Korean tale, half legacy and half curse, that she sometimes treats reverently and...
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...
dog water swimming branch
Book Previews

Flooded With Plot and Emotion

March 25, 2024 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
My preferred type of novel both creates something stylistically new with language and enlightens my worldview by revealing a new perspective. But I recently read and loved a book that doesn’t really do either of those things. It’s almost purely plot and emotion. Sadness! Fear! Love! Hope! Guilt! Trauma! Contentment! It’s all there in the internationally bestselling 2016 German novel...
two men near car and building
Book Previews

Rise

February 16, 2024 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
You know how novels are sometimes split into sections? Part I, part II, part III? Or maybe the sections aren’t numbered, but have titles? And each section’s number or title appears on a page of its own? I just read a novel like that. Flipping through the opening pages, past the copyright page, the dedication page, the epigraph page, and...
Book Previews

An Unreliable Narrator on a Date

December 20, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
If you’ve ever noticed your stream-of-consciousness thoughts, either through meditation or through being alive and observing what you’re thinking, you’ve probably noticed that you often sound a little crazy inside your head. Thoughts come so quickly, and so unbidden. A transcription of them would reveal a fount of irrationality, emotionality, and impulsivity. Fortunately, we have the ability to edit much...
laptop pad pen glasses
Incidental Musings

Plotters and Pantsers

July 14, 2023 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
I did it! I wrote chapter 1 of my new novel. I don’t know exactly where the book is going, though I have a general outline in my head. But that’s as it should be, at least for me. When I write a book, I like to see where it goes of its own accord. If it goes in a...
regular window frames of a building pink
Book Previews

Notes on Kokoro

May 10, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
Today I’d like to share a few interesting quirks of Kokoro, by Natsume Sōseki. First of all, there are 110 chapters in this novel, and they are all the same length. How on earth did Sōseki pull that off? I suppose the chapters are not precisely the same length; some are 2 pages long, some are slightly more than 2...
sad thoughtful Asian man
Book Previews

Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki

May 8, 2023 by Liza Achilles 3 Comments
I loved the little 1914 novel Kokoro, by the Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki, which I plucked off the shelf at my local bookstore, completely unaware of what I was getting into. As it turned out, I got myself into a beautiful, sad, and wonderfully written story. The word Kokoro means “heart” or “feeling” in Japanese. This is an interesting title...
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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 (348)
  • 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) will not work until I have published the corresponding blog post.

Vigil George Saunders
When Nothing Feels Real Nathan Dunne
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 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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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