For Real

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#17 True Crime Book Bonanza Oct 16, 2018

Show notes

This week, Alice and Kim discuss arson, mesmerism, and murder in a true crime-themed episode. Find your scary nonfiction here this month on For Real.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margarita by Tim Federle, and The Golden Boy: A Doctor’s Journey With Addiction by Grant Matheson. Don’t forget to check out Book Riot’s new subscription service offering Tailored Book Recommendations for readers of all stripes. Visit mytbr.co to learn more.

FOLLOW UP

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-Class Metropolis by Sam Anderson

NEW BOOKS

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter

Noncompliant: A Lone Whistleblower Exposes the Giants of Wall Street by Carmen Segarra

My Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper

In the Hurricane’s Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown by Nathaniel Philbrick

Impeachment: An American History by by Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali, Peter Baker, and Jeffrey Engel

WEEKLY THEME: True Crime Bonanza

The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

After the Eclipse: A Mother’s Murder and a Daughter’s Search by Sarah Perry

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

The Infamous Harry Hayward: A True Account of Murder and Mesmerism in Gilded Age Minneapolis by Shawn Francis Peters

American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse

SEGMENT THREE: Short Nonfiction II

Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli

My Friend Dahmer by Derk Backderf

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

READING NOW

Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister

The Good Pig by Sy Montgomery

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

EXTRAS

Allie Brosh/Felicia Day Interview

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#16 True Stories of the Supernatural Oct 02, 2018

Show notes

This week, Kim and Alice share some books that try to find the truth behind the supernatural or that might be perfect haunting reading in October.

This episode is sponsored by Oxford University Press, LibraryReads, and TBR, Book Riot's new subscription service offering Tailored Book Recommendations for readers of all stripes.

NEW BOOKS

Behold, America: The Entangled History of "America First" and "the American Dream" by Sarah Churchwell

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

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister

Feuding Fan Dancers: Faith Bacon, Sally Rand, and the Golden Age of the Showgirl by Leslie Zemeckis

Heart: A History by Sandeep Jauhar

Six By Ten: Stories from Solitary, edited by Taylor Pendergrass

TRUE STORIES OF THE SUPERNATURAL

Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum

The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters, and Benjamin Franklin Created a Monster by Brian Regal and Frank J. Esposito

American Ghost: A Family's Extraordinary History on the Desert Frontier by Hannah Nordhaus

The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures by Aaron Mahnke

RIP READING CHALLENGE

Readers Imbibing Peril

Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life by Laura Thompson

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey

READING NOW

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Fallout: Conspiracy, Cover-Up, and the Making of the Atomic Bomb by Peter Watson

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#15 Cozy Nonfiction for Fall Sep 18, 2018

Show notes

This episode of For Real is sponsored by The Good Neighbor by Maxwell King and The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman.

FOLLOW UP READS

The Class by Heather Won Tesario

NEW BOOKS

The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy by Paige Williams

Call Them By Their True Names by Rebecca Solnit

Seeds of Resistance: The Fight to Save Our Food Supply by Mark Schapiro

The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing by Merve Emre

The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War by Joanne Freeman

The Art of Logic in an Illogical World by Eugenia Cheng

She Called Me Woman: Nigeria’s Queer Women Speak, edited by Azeenarh Mohammed, Chitra Nagarajan, Rafeeat Aliyu

WEEKLY THEME: Cozy Nonfiction for Fall

House of Stone by Anthony Shadid

The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman

Travels With Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck

SEGMENT THREE: Great Subtitles

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea & of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists & Fools Including the Author Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn

Heaven’s Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal by Jack Kelly

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek

READING NOW

99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown

Knocking on Heaven’s Door by Katy Butler

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS?

Find us on Twitter @itsalicetime and @kimthedork

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#14 Labor Day and Stories About Work Sep 04, 2018

Show notes

In this week's episode, Kim and guest co-host Sharifah recommend books by people with interesting jobs and personal essay collections by smart and funny women.

This episode is sponsored by Unapologetic by Charlene A Carruthers and Elizabeth Warren by Antonia Felix. Book Riot also wants to know about your reading habits. Hop over and take our Fall Reader Survey before Sept. 10 for a chance to win a $100 gift card to the Book Riot Store: bookriot.com/fallsurvey

NEW BOOKS

To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope by Jeanne Marie Laskas

“Dear Mr. President” by Jeanne Marie Laskas in the Guardian

Ten Letters by Eli Saslow

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? by Alyssa Mastromonaco

The Class by Heather Won Tesoriero

I Should Have Honor: A Memoir of Hope and Pride in Pakistan by Khalida Brohi

Bureau of Spies by Steven T. Usdin

The Provocative Colette by Annie Goetzinger

Not Quite Not White by Sharmila Sen

LABOR DAY/STORIES OF WORK

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

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

From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty

This is Just My Face by Gabourey Sidibe

It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War by Lynsey Addario

MOSTLY FUNNY PERSONAL ESSAYS

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

A Field Guide to Awkward Silences by Alexandra Petri

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper

One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul

READING NOW

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

The Infamous Harry Hayward by Shawn Francis Peters

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#13 Suffragists, Suffragettes, and Winning the Vote! Aug 21, 2018

Show notes

This week, Kim and Alice take a deep dive into books about the campaign for women's suffrage and the passage of the 19th Amendment in August 1920.

This episode is sponsored by Book Riot Insiders, Girl Boner: The Good Girl’s Guide to Sexual Empowerment by August McLaughlin, and Tragedy Plus Time by Adam Cayton-Holland.

NEW BOOKS

A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History by Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken

Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee

Reader, Come Home: The Fate of the Reading Brain in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf

A Life of My Ownby Claire Tomalin

Proud: My Fight for An Unlikely American Dream by Ibtihaj Muhammad

The Kill Jar: Obsession, Descent, and a Hunt for Detroit’s Most Notorious Serial Killer by J. Reuben Appelman

WEEKLY THEME: WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE

News: Hillary Clinton, Steven Spielberg Bringing Women's Voting Drama to TV

For fun: Bad Romance - Women's Suffrage

The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss

A Woman’s Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot by Mary Walton

The Myth of Seneca Falls by Lisa Tetrault

Quick Hits: Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York Stateby Susan Goodier / Lucy Stone: An Unapologetic Life by Sally G. McMillen / Fighting Chance: The Struggle Over Woman Suffrage and Black Suffrage in Reconstruction America by Faye E. Dudden / To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells by Linda O. McMurry / Frances Willard: A Biography by Ruth Bordin / The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age by Myra MacPherson

FICTION/NONFICTION

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland

Singapore: Unlikely Power by John Curtis Perry

The Dinner List by Rebecca Searle

Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. by Sam Wasson (2010)

The Slenderman Mysteries: An Internet Urban Legend Comes to Life by Nick Redfern

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Pilgrim’s Wilderness by Tom Kizzia

READING NOW

Yes We (Still) Can by Dan Pfeiffer

Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown

The Secret Token by Andrew Lawler

Forever Nerdy by Brian Posen

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#12 Scandal! Aug 07, 2018

Show notes

This week, Kim and Alice talk presidential scandals, Victorian affairs, and the inside scoop on the Jell-O dynasty.

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#11 Nonfiction Beach Reads Jul 24, 2018

Show notes

This week, Kim and Alice take a deep dive into types of nonfiction that are great for reading at the beach -- stunt and celebrity memoirs, science and nature stories, and historical true crime reads.

While you’re here, don’t forget Book Riot’s YA giveaway! Go here to win $500 of the year’s best YA fiction and nonfiction: bookriot.com/500yagiveaway.

FOLLOW UP

From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein

Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Drinking in America by Mark Edward Lender

NEW BOOKS

Barons of the Sea by Steven Ujifusa

Blood and Ivy by Paul Collins

A Bite-Sized History of France by Stephane Henaut (translated by Jeni Mitchell)

Killing It: An Education by Camas Davis

NONFICTION BEACH READS

Stunt Memoirs!

My Year with Eleanor by Noelle Hancock

Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis

The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

The Lunatic Express by Carl Hoffman

Nature/Science Books!

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery

Light/Historical True Crime!

The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum

Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.

The Girls of Murder City by Douglas Perry

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

Comedy Memoirs!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir by Eddie Huang

I Know I Am But What Are You by Samantha Bee

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

So Close to Being the Sh*t, Y’All Don’t Even Know by Retta

READING NOW

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

Fighting Chance by Faye Dudden

OTHER

Ask a Slave (web series)

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#10 Revolutionary History! Jul 10, 2018

Show notes

This week, Alice and Kim talk Revolutionary War history, Persian empresses, and the tragic fire that society buried.

While you're here, don’t forget Book Riot’s YA giveaway! Go here to win $500 of the year’s best YA fiction and nonfiction.

bookriot.com/500yagiveaway

NEW BOOKS

Don't You Ever by Mary Carter Bishop

Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire by Robert E. Fiesler

Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan by Ruby Lal

No One Tells You This: A Memoir by Glynnis MacNicol

From the Corner of the Oval by Rebecca Dorey-Stein

WEEKLY THEME: Revolutionary History

Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts

Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation by Cokie Roberts

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell

Jefferson’s Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America by Catherine Kerrison

Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis

Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

SEGMENT THREE: Fiction/Nonfiction

The Ensemble by Aja Gabel

Gone by Min Kym

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Steve Brusatte

How to Build a Dinosaur: The New Science of Reverse Evolution by Jack Horner and James Gorman

READING NOW

Stalking God by Anjali Kumar

Drinking in America: A History by Mark Edward Lender

OTHER

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Age of Jackson Podcast

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#9 Pride Month! Jun 26, 2018

Show notes

This week, Kim and Alice dive into some new books and backlist reads to read during Pride Month (although, of course, they’re also great any time!).

This week’s episode is sponsored by Book Riot’s Annotated, an audio documentary podcast series about books, language, and reading. Give it a listen!

NEW BOOKS

Alone Time by Stephanie Rosenbloom

Troublesome Science by Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall

The Ambition Decisions by Hana Schank and Elizabeth Wallace

90s Bitch by Allison Yarrow

Squeezed by Alissa Quart

PRIDE MONTH!

Dear John, I Love Jane by Candace Walsh

Does Jesus Really Love Me? by Jeff Chu

Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality by Jack Rogers

Surpassing the Love of Men by Lillian Faderman

Tomorrow Will be Different by Sarah McBride

Then Comes Marriage by Roberta Kaplan with Lisa Dickey

The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

READING NOW

Black Dahlia, Red Rose by Piu Eatwell

Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer

OTHER TITLES

Momo by Michael Ende

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#8 The Nonfiction of Book Expo Jun 12, 2018

Show notes

This week, Kim and Alice do a recap of some of the best nonfiction of Book Expo America, the publishing industry's big trade show each spring.

This episode is sponsored by Book Riot’s Annotated and Recommended podcasts. Give them a listen! And don’t forget that Book Riot is giving away a $500 gift card to the bookstore of your choice. Go to bookriot.com/bookstore500 before June 21 to enter.

FOLLOW UP

Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr.

Dear Madam President by Jennifer Palmeri

Bombay Anna by Susan Morgan

NEW BOOKS

What Would the Great Economists Do? by Linda Yueh (June 5, Picador)

The Secret Token by Andrew Lawler (June 5, Doubleday)

First in Line by Kate Andersen Brower (June 5, Harper)

Woman at the Devil’s Door by Sarah Beth Hopton (June 1, Indiana University Press)

BOOK EXPO

The Impatient Dr. Lange by Seema Yasmin (July 2018, Johns Hopkins University Press)

Call Them By Their True Names by Rebecca Solnit (September 2018, Haymarket)