128 episodes

For Real is a biweekly nonfiction podcast that puts the spotlight on new books and old favorites that tell it like it is, or at least try to.

For Real Book Riot

    • Arts
    • 4.9 • 145 Ratings

For Real is a biweekly nonfiction podcast that puts the spotlight on new books and old favorites that tell it like it is, or at least try to.

    The Final Episode

    The Final Episode

    This week Alice and Kim wrap up 125 episodes of the For Real podcast by discussing their favorite reads of 2022 and reflecting on their favorite podcast episodes.
    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.
    This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
    KIM’S FAVORITES OF 2022
    How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
    World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
    How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur
    Ancestor Trouble by Maud Newton
    Invisible Child by Andrea Elliot
    The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes 
    In the Shadow of the Mountain by Sylvia Vasquez-Lavado
    Dog Flowers by Danielle Geller
    ALICE’S FAVORITES OF 2022
    A Most Remarkable Creature by Jonathan Meiburg
    Ghosts in the Schoolyard by Eve L. Ewing
    The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú
    Looking for the Good War by Elizabeth D. Samet
    The Lost City of Z by David Grann
    Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? By Roz Chast
    Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
    Trans Mission by Alex Bertie
    FAVORITE PODCAST EPISODES
    Episode 13: Suffragists, Suffragettes, and Winning the Vote
    Episode 23: The Arctic and the Tropics
    Episode 34: Ahoy, We Sail the Sea of Books
    Episode 50: 50 Books for 50 Episodes
    Episode 53: Snake Math!
    Episode 67: After the Final Rose
    Episode 70: YA Nonfiction, aka Nonfiction for Exhausted Adults 
    Episode 91: Library Treasure Hunt
    Episode 92: The One With Mary Roach 
    Episode 96: Fell in a Hole (AKA True Stories Underground)
    Episode 100: Episode 100!!!!
    Episode 123: Nonfiction Holiday Gift Guide
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    • 52 min
    New Books By the End of the Year

    New Books By the End of the Year

    This week Alice and Kim talk about new nonfiction out in November and December, including memoirs, cold cases, orchid obsession, and more.
    Gift Tailored Book Recommendations this holiday season!
    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.
    This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

    Nonfiction in the News
    New York Times: Best Books of the Year
    Washington Post: Best Books of the Year
    Reader’s Digest: The National Book Foundation Announces 2022 National Book Award Winners

    New Nonfiction
    Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family by Rabia Chaudry
    Disability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World by Ben Mattlin
    The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder by Edward Humes
    Queen of Snails: A Graphic Memoir by Maureen Burdock
    A Coastline is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents by Mary-Alice Daniel
    The Mexican Witch Lifestyle: Brujeria Spells, Tarot, and Crystal Magic by Valeria Ruelas
    As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age by Matthew Cobb
    Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy by Clarence Lusane
    Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon by Kate Andersen Brower
    Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening by Douglas Brinkley
    Orchid Muse: A History of Obsession in Fifteen Flowers by Erica Hannickel
    The Quentin Blake Book by Jenny Uglow

    Reading Now
    Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong
    The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean
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    • 50 min
    Nonfiction Holiday Gift Guide

    Nonfiction Holiday Gift Guide

    This week Alice and Kim make holiday gift guide recommendations.
    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.
    For a complete list of books discussed in this episode, visit our website https://bookriot.com/listen/nonfiction-holiday-gift-guide/.
    This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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    • 54 min
    Books by Indigenous Authors

    Books by Indigenous Authors

    This week Alice and Kim talk about books by Indigenous authors to recognize Native American Heritage Month. They also speculate about Prince Harry’s memoir and share exciting new nonfiction picks.
    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.
    NONFICTION IN THE NEWS
    Prince Harry’s Memoir Is Due in January. How Explosive Will It Be? [New York Times]
    How Julie Powell and her ‘Julie/Julia’ blog changed food writing [Washington Post]
    Keanu Reeves Exits Hulu’s ‘The Devil In The White City’ Limited Series [Deadline]
    NEW NONFICTION
    White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao
    Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge by Ted Conover
    The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family by Kerri K. Greenidge
    Among Tigers: Fighting to Bring Back Asia’s Big Cats by K. Ullas Karanth
    NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
    Heart Berries: A Memoir by Teresa Marie Mailhot
    This Place: 150 Years Retold
    Dog Flowers: A Memoir, An Archive by Danielle Geller
    Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance by Nick Estes
    READING NOW
    Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
    A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey by Jonathan Meiburg
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    • 47 min
    New Fall Nonfiction

    New Fall Nonfiction

    This week Alice and Kim talk new fall nonfiction.
    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.
    Book Riot’s Reading the Stars Giveaway
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    Fall Books Review, Part I
    The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children’s Lives, and Where We Go Now by Anya Kamenetz 
    Inventing Latinos : A New Story of American Racism by Laura E. Gómez
    Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu
    The Surprising Lives of Bark Beetles: Mighty Foresters of the Insect World by Jiri Hulcr, Marc Abrahams
    Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care by Rina Raphael
    Wolf Hustle: A Black Woman on Wall Street by Cin Fabré

    Fall Books Review, Part II
    Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
    Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis by Annie Proulx
    Somewhere Sisters: A Story of Adoption, Identity, and the Meaning of Family by Erika Hayasaki
    The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters by J.W. Ocker
    Home Bound: An Uprooted Daughter’s Reflections on Belonging by Vanessa Bee
    American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America’s First Paramedics by Kevin Hazzard

    Reading Now
    KIM: Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
    ALICE: The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont by Shawn Levy

    CONCLUSION
    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.
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    • 47 min
    Witches and Boats

    Witches and Boats

    This week Alice and Kim reflect on visiting Salem, Massachusetts and discuss books about witches and boats.
    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.

    Follow Up
    In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado
    Giveaway: Reading the Stars by Book Riot

    New Nonfiction
    Savor: A Chef’s Hunger for More by Fatima Ali and Tarajia Morrell
    Black Hollywood: Reimagining Iconic Movie Moments by Carell Augustus
    Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way by Kieran Setiya
    Looking for the Hidden Folk: How Iceland’s Elves Can Save the Earth by Nancy Marie Brown

    Witches and Boats
    The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff
    Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies by Elaine G. Breslaw
    Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
    Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer

    Reading Now
    Who Is Wellness For?: An Examination of Wellness Culture and Who It Leaves Behind by Fariha Róisín
    This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust
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    • 49 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
145 Ratings

145 Ratings

StephTheArchivist ,

You’ll be missed!

Thank you Autumn and Kim for a wonderful podcast. Your humor helped me get through the pandemic and your outstanding recommendations never failed. I’ll miss listening to you both!

jkmonroe ,

Warm and witty

This is a great podcast focusing on nonfiction themes and reviews. Alice and Kim clearly care about their topics, and I enjoy their honest reflections on other things too.

W. Mattimoe ,

Nonfiction deserves this spotlight

Even though I am thoroughly a fiction fan, this lively and wide-ranging podcast keeps me motivated to round out my reading. Thanks to Alice and Kim, I’ve found some of my favorite reads outside my traditional comfort zone. Give them a listen.

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