For Real

While Kim and Alice take a short summer break, enjoy this episode from the archive about reading for self care!

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Alice Burton.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

National Book Critics Circle Award Winners Announced [Book Riot]

Best-Selling Author Brené Brown Promotes Meaningful Change in Trailer for HBO Max’s ‘Atlas of the Heart’ [The Wrap]

Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us by Colleen Kinder

Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink by Veronique Hyland

You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation by Julissa Arce

Hell’s Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, America’s First Serial Killer Family by Susan Jonusas

All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep: Hope – and Hard Pills to Swallow – About Fighting for Black Lives by Andre Henry

Burning My Roti: Breaking Barriers as a Queer Indian Woman by Sharan Dhaliwal

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Calypso by David Sedaris

The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While Kim and Alice take a short summer break, enjoy this episode from the archive!

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Alice Burton.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World by Danielle Friedman

Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama: A Memoir by Bob Odenkirk

Manifesto: On Never Giving Up by Bernardine Evaristo

The Urge: Our History of Addiction by Carl Erik Fisher

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry

The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze by Laura Shin

There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster—Who Profits and Who Pays the Price by Jessie Singer

Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton

Murder on the Mountain: Crime, Passion, and Punishment in Gilded Age New Jersey by Peter J. Wosh, Patricia L. Schall 

Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain 

Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free by Sarah Weinman 

Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change by Angela Garbes

KIM: Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can’t Live Without Them by Adrienne Raphel

ALICE: A Visitor’s Guide to Victorian England by Michelle Higgs

You can find us on SOCIAL MEDIA – @itsalicetime and @kimthedork. Amazing Audio Editing for this episode was done by Jen Zink. RATE AND REVIEW on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so people can find us more easily, and follow us there so you can get our new episodes the minute they come out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Alice and Kim talk about upcoming nonfiction for 2022.

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Kendra Winchester and Kim Ukura.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Former Chronicle reporter signs deal with Jamie Lee Curtis on Paradise Fire movie [Datebook]

The Tomorrow Game: Rival Teenagers, Their Race for a Gun, and a Community United to Save Them by Sudhir Venkatesh (

The Colony: Faith and Blood in a Promised Land by Sally Denton

Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings by Chrysta Bilton

Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe

Return to Uluru: The Hidden History of a Murder in Outback Australia by Mark McKenna

Asian American Histories of the United States by Catherine Ceniza Choy

The Fishermen and the Dragon: Fear, Greed, and a Fight for Justice on the Gulf Coast by Kirk Wallace Johnson 

We Are Still Here: Afghan Women on Courage, Freedom, and the Fight to Be Heard by Nahid Shahalimi

Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew by Michael W. Twitty

All the Women in My Brain by Betty Gilpin

Bad Vibes Only: (and Other Things I Bring to the Table) by Nora McInerny

Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient Trees by Jared Farmer

American Caliph: The True Story of a Muslim Mystic, a Hollywood Epic, and the 1977 Siege of Washington, DC by Shahan Mufti

Egypt’s Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth by John and Colleen Darnell

The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee

KIM: The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World by David K. Randall 

ALICE: The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. by Peniel E. Joseph

You can find us on SOCIAL MEDIA – @itsalicetime and @kimthedork. Amazing Audio Editing for this episode was done by Jen Zink. RATE AND REVIEW on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so people can find us more easily, and follow us there so you can get our new episodes the minute they come out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Alice and Kim talk about books on disability activism to recognize the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Plus, new nonfiction about divorce colonies, fangirls, and more.

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Kendra Winchester and Kim Ukura.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ Series Adaptation Casts Kathryn Hahn [Collider]

Olympian Nathan Chen To Publish Memoir in Fall [Kirkus]

The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier by April White

Everything I Need I Get from You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It by Kaitlyn Tiffany

We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power by Caleb Gayle

Cabin Fever: The Harrowing Journey of a Cruise Ship at the Dawn of a Pandemic by Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin

City of Refugees: The Story of Three Newcomers Who Breathed Life into a Dying American Town by Susan Hartman

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong

Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma

The Disability Experience: Working Toward Belonging by Hannalora Leavitt and Belle Wuthrich

Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann and Kristen Joiner

Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau

A Disability History of the United States by Kim E. Nielsen

Flying Solo: A Novel by Linda Holmes

Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth D. Samet

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Alice and Kim talk about nonfiction for Pride Month.

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Alice Burton.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

KIM: Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott

Three Women: Lisa Taddeo Shares a Vivid First Look at Her Adaptation [Vanity Fair]

Battling the Big Lie: How Fox, Facebook, and the MAGA Media Are Destroying America by Dan Pfeiffer 

The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World by David K. Randall

The Wine-Dark Sea Within : A Turbulent History of Blood by Dr. Dhun Sethna

The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon’s Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I by Lindsey Fitzharris

1368: China and the Making of the Modern World by Ali Humayun Akhtar

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World by Sarah Prager (Author), Zoe More O’Ferrall (Illustrator)

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

KIM: The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life by A.J. Jacobs (Author), Greg Pliska (Contributor)

ALICE: Girls Can Kiss Now by Jill Gutowitz

You can find us on SOCIAL MEDIA – @itsalicetime and @kimthedork. Amazing Audio Editing for this episode was done by Jen Zink. RATE AND REVIEW on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so people can find us more easily, and follow us there so you can get our new episodes the minute they come out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Alice and Kim talk about books for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month plus new releases from charming superheroes, football coaches, and more.

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life by Amy Butler Greenfield

Taraji P. Henson in Talks to Produce and Star in ‘Queenie’ for BET Studios [Variety]

Colin Kaepernick to Publish a Young Adult Memoir [New York Times]

Hometown Victory: A Coach’s Story of Football, Fate, and Coming Home by Keanon Lowe with Justin Spizman

Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement by Wendy L. Rouse

His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa

We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story by Simu Liu

Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be by Marissa R. Moss

Who Killed Jane Stanford?: A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University by Richard White

American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland by Marie Mutsuki Mockett

Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story by Mazie Hirono

Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Jeff Yang and Phil Yu and Philip Wang

Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliot

My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Alice and Kim talk voting reads.

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Alice Burton and Kim Ukura.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Betty Gilpin Inks Deal with Macmillan’s Flatiron Books for Personal Essay Collection [Deadline]

Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners Announced [LA Times]

Biography – Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane by Paul Auster

Autobiographical Prose – Real Estate: A Living Autobiography by Deborah Levy

Current Interest – Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could by Adam Schiff

History – Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer

Science and Technology – The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

The Power of Dignity: How Transforming Justice Can Heal Our Communities by Judge Victoria Pratt

Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands by Kelly Lytle Hernández

37 Questions with Kelly Lytle Hernández

Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel

Born to Be Hanged : The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune by Keith Thomson 

One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson

Drawing the Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Voting in America by Tommy Jenkins (Author), Kati Lacker (Illustrator)

Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams

Say It Louder!: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy by Tiffany Cross

Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for the Vote by Ellen Carol Dubois

KIM: The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life by Amy Butler Greenfield

ALICE: Lincoln in Private by Ronald C. White

You can find us on SOCIAL MEDIA – @itsalicetime and @kimthedork. Amazing Audio Editing for this episode was done by Jen Zink. RATE AND REVIEW on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so people can find us more easily, and follow us there so you can get our new episodes the minute they come out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Alice and Kim share some books about odd jobs plus cover new nonfiction about Hong Kong, prison, and cold cases.

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Alice Burton.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can’t Live Without Them by Adrienne Raphel

How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur

Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton

Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong by Louisa Lim

Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis

Free: Two Years, Six Lives, and the Long Journey Home by Lauren Kessler

Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases by Paul Holes

Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpot

Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service by Tajja Isen

Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter by Nina MacLaughlin

The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London by Christopher Skaife

Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness by Laura Coates

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

The Trayvon Generation by Elizabeth Alexander

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Alice and Kim talk about nonfiction adapted for young readers.

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Alice Burton.

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

Sisters of Mokama: The Pioneering Women Who Brought Hope and Healing to India by Jyoti Thottam

Slaves for Peanuts : A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History by Jori Lewis

Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs by Juli Berwald

Murder on the Mountain : Crime, Passion, and Punishment in Gilded Age New Jersey by Peter J. Wosh, Patricia L. Schall

The Last Baron: The Paris Kidnapping That Brought Down an Empire by Tom Sancton

How to Sell a Poison : The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT by Elena Conis

Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family by Madhushree Gosh 

Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverted Kids by Susan Cain

Hidden Figures Young Readers’ by Margot Lee Shetterly

Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice by Bryan Stevenson

Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir by Kwame Onwuachi with Joshua David Stein

KIM: Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton

ALICE: House of Abraham by Stephen Berry

You can find us on SOCIAL MEDIA – @itsalicetime and @kimthedork. Amazing Audio Editing for this episode was done by Jen Zink. RATE AND REVIEW on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so people can find us more easily, and follow us there so you can get our new episodes the minute they come out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Alice and Kim chat about their current obsessions (Lincoln and fraudsters, respectively), discuss reading for self care, and preview new nonfiction about strangers, assimilation, serial killers, and more.

Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Alice Burton.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

National Book Critics Circle Award Winners Announced [Book Riot]

Best-Selling Author Brené Brown Promotes Meaningful Change in Trailer for HBO Max’s ‘Atlas of the Heart’ [The Wrap]

Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us by Colleen Kinder

Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink by Veronique Hyland

You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation by Julissa Arce

Hell’s Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, America’s First Serial Killer Family by Susan Jonusas

All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep: Hope – and Hard Pills to Swallow – About Fighting for Black Lives by Andre Henry

Burning My Roti: Breaking Barriers as a Queer Indian Woman by Sharan Dhaliwal

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Calypso by David Sedaris

The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices