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True Story

Some Nonfiction Favorites from 2022

Happiest of Fridays, nonfiction friends! I want to open this edition with some personal news. This will be my last edition of True Story ā€“ beginning next week, Kendra will be taking over the newsletter full time. I’m thrilled to be getting even more of her nonfiction recommendations!

While I’m sad to be ending my time writing this newsletter, it feels like the right moment to step back and see what other ways I can share my love of books with others. You can find me talking books, cats, and the weather on Instagram at @kimthedork as well as co-hosting Book Riot’s For Real podcast. Thank you for reading, and enjoy this last edition!

Bookish Goods

book with paper butterflies coming out

Book Art — Paper Butterflies by ButterflyBooksCo

I stopped my scroll when I saw this beautiful paper butterfly sculpture. Gorgeous! $35

New Releases

book cover making love to the land

Making Love with the Land: Essays by Joshua Whitehead

I’m not sure I can do a very good job of describing this one, but I am going to try! In this collection Joshua Whitehead, an award-winning novelist, “explores the relationships between body, language, and land” through a mix of memoir and essays. Whitehead is both queer and a member of Peguis First Nation in Manitoba, and brings both of those aspects of his identity to these pieces. He writes about coping with trauma, urges us to rethink the relationship we have with mental health struggles, and explores how we are all finding new modes of connection to each other and the land. It sounds beautiful and challenging.

book cover Dickens and Prince

Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius by Nick Hornby

This is another one I am having trouble figuring out how to describe. Nick Hornby, another novelist, writes about the “cosmic link” between two great artists — Charles Dickens and Prince. The connections aren’t immediately obvious, beyond the fact that both were major artists when they were alive “whose legacy resounded far beyond their own time.” While part of the connection he draws is between how prolific each was, Hornby finds other parallels in their personal lives, social status, and more. This one is odd but really delightful.

For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

For my last newsletter, I thought Iā€™d change things up a bit and share some thoughts on two of my favorite nonfiction reads this year ā€” one published in 2022 and one that just made it on my radar.

book cover dog flowers

Dog Flowers: A Memoir, An Archive by Danielle Geller

Danielle Geller grew up estranged from her mother, an alcoholic who loved her daughters but lost custody when they were small. In her 20s, Geller receives a phone call that her mother has been admitted to a Florida hospital and may not live much longer. At that moment, they hadn’t spoken in more than six months. Geller heads down to Florida and discovers that her mother’s life can be packed up in just eight suitcases. She finds one filled with diaries, photos, letters, photo negatives, and some sage. She brings this one home, then uses the contents to try and excavate her mother’s life. This book is a memoir of her childhood, and the story of reconnecting with her family and understanding the mistakes they all made. This one is really difficult to read, but it was incredibly beautiful, too. 

book cover invisible child

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

This book got on my radar after winning this year’s Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, and it’s basically ruined most other nonfiction since I read it. Reporter Andrea Elliott spent eight years chronicling the life of Dasani, a young girl growing up homeless in Brooklyn. Through this reporting, Elliott puts a face and family at the center of the homeless crisis, tracing it back through history and through the institutions that are part of the problem as well as a potential solution. It’s a huge, beautiful, heartbreaking book I could not put down.

For more nonfiction reads, head over to the podcast service of your choice and download For Real, which I co-host with my dear friend Alice. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @kimthedork or send an email to kim@riotnewmedia.com. Happy weekend!