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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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News & Events

Spring in Washington, DC, for Readers, Writers, & Thinkers

May 12, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments
The weather is nice, and many literary events are happening in and around the city! This blog post is for all you readers, writers, and thinkers looking to participate in bookish opportunities this spring and summer. Most of these opportunities are for people in the Washington, DC, area, but some are virtual and available to anyone with an electronic device....
Author Interview with Jana Eisenstein for Ghosted
Author Interviews

Single, Dating, and Writing in DC

July 29, 2024 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
What’s the best way to navigate dating life in modern times? Are happiness and marriage the same thing? What’s it like to be a dating memoirist when family members are interested readers? Learn the answers to these questions and more in this interview with DC-area author (as well as my friend and market booth partner) Jana Eisenstein. This post is...
Two Novembers Selected for DCTRENDING's Summer Booklist 2024
News & Events

It’s Book Launch Day!!!!!!!

July 1, 2024 by Liza Achilles No Comments
I don’t know what to say. . . . I’m officially a published author of an actual book. Look, Mom!!! It only took me, oh, 24 years from when I decided that I wanted to be a published book author to become one. But I am proud and excited. What’s 24 years of hard labor, crippling (literally) anxiety, and the...
circuit board forming human face to depict ai
Book Previews

How Big of a Threat Is AI?

May 13, 2024 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments
Let’s put it this way: I’m not worried about my career. Am I worried about the fate of human life on earth? Hmm. . . . I mean, not really. A robot takeover probably won’t happen, in my opinion. However, I’m not placing any bets. But the subject of this blog post will be the smaller of these scopes: How...
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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...
man playing guitar with baby on couch
Book Previews

Art and Family

July 21, 2023 by Liza Achilles 1 Comment
Claire Dederer points out an unavoidable artist’s problem in her book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma. Talking about this is a bit controversial in today’s social climate, but bear with me. Here’s what she writes: “What the artist or writer or musician needs desperately is time. And what the family needs is time. This conflict is not necessarily solvable. . ....
fist
Book Previews

Impulses

July 19, 2023 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Picasso and Hemingway. Two artists so famous and celebrated that I don’t need to write their first names. But, as Claire Dederer points out in her recent book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, they were both hypermasculine . . . and cruel and abusive to women. Dederer has a theory on why this might have been the case: “If you are...
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...
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...
fire flames
Incidental Musings

Final Orders for Art

April 17, 2023 by Liza Achilles 3 Comments
“Virgil left instructions at his death that the Aeneid, still unfinished, be destroyed. For he thought it needed three more years of licking into shape, time spent, perhaps, in harmonizing the voices he had sounded out. Or was he simply driven by his perfectionism as a poet? It is impossible to say, but fortunately, as we know, Augustus countermanded Virgil’s...
robots using devices
Incidental Musings

Novel-Writing Machines Are Here

October 12, 2022 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I recently read an article in The Week magazine (not available on the web, but it was adapted from a longer article from The Verge) about a woman who uses an AI program to help her write novels, which she then sells online. She does not use the AI program exclusively. Instead, she feeds information into the AI program, reads...
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Tales

The Inquisitive One Goes on Another Date

August 10, 2022 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
The inquisitive one was on a date with a tall person originally from Puerto Rico. They talked about their book reading, their exercise routines, and their work lives. Then suddenly, the date said something that surprised the i.o. “I have a request,” said the date. “I’ve read Liza’s blog. Liza writes about you fairly regularly. You must tell Liza not...
police car
Incidental Musings

Mixed Feelings

July 19, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
Every once in a while, The New Yorker publishes a series of little vignettes, often by famous authors. Each vignette tells a story about the writer’s life. These are true stories on a theme, . . . and these little pieces often pack a large punch. My favorite vignette from a recent issue is called Lone Star, by David Wright...
dictionary page
Guest Posts

Words, Words, Words – The Book That Made Me a Writer

July 14, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
The following is a guest post by Lisa Tulfer, a writer and blogger based in England. As a child, I didn’t have much access to books. I was home educated, living in a foreign country with little interaction with that country’s language or culture, and English-language books were simply not available to buy. This was in the 1970s and early...
Finding Love After Loss book cover
Incidental Musings

How to Find Love Again After the Passing of a Spouse

April 2, 2021 by Liza Achilles No Comments
How are modern widows handling the multifaceted challenges of reentering the dating scene and finding love anew? Two co-authors recently researched this question. They discovered that modern widows are approaching the process of finding love in uniquely modern ways. Their book, Finding Love After Loss: A Relationship Roadmap for Widows, by Marti Benedetti and Mary A. Dempsey, will be released...
trash can green outdoors
Incidental Musings

How It Goes With Writing Sometimes

February 9, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments
I had a blog post almost complete and ready to send yesterday. But as I was coming to my conclusion, I realized that I had written myself into a corner. I had made a mistake. My entire thesis turned out to be untrue. Often, I do not know exactly what my conclusion will be until I write it. Often, I...
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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 (333)
  • 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)Β 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 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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  • Liza Achilles on The Vegetarian by Han Kang: Analysis of the English Translation
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Author links

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

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     βœοΈ  I'm always looking for writers who wish to write a guest blog post. Here are my guidelines.
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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