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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. Listen to Ask a Bookseller to find your next favorite book.

Big Books and Bold Ideas

Big Books and Bold Ideas is a weekly series hosted by Kerri Miller every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

Sign Up for The Thread® Newsletter

Sign up for The Thread newsletter to get reading recommendations from Kerri Miller and other bookworms around the MPR newsroom. Find reviews for new releases, as well as hidden gems you may have missed.

Talking Volumes

Talking Volumes is an annual event series featuring notable authors in conversation about their new books. Presented by MPR News and The Minnesota Star Tribune. 

Inspired by 'The Decameron,' these poems are a modern pandemic time capsule

Inspired by 'The Decameron,' these poems are a modern pandemic time capsule

If you, like many people, are getting through the dragging months of the pandemic by being Very Online, you'll find poet Leigh Stein's new book is a perfect encapsulation of that experience.
by Jeevika Verma

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The nuns in 'Agatha of Little Neon' don't fly or sing, but they will stay with you

The nuns in 'Agatha of Little Neon' don't fly or sing, but they will stay with you

You don't have to be Catholic to connect with Claire Luchette's vivid story of a lonely young woman yearning for community — and also for everything she gave up to be part of that community.
by Maureen Corrigan

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Ask a Bookseller: 'Hola Papi' offers comical memoir in essays

Ask a Bookseller: 'Hola Papi' offers comical memoir in essays

Katharine Otis of House of Books in Kent, Conn., recommends the comical memoir-in-essays “Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons” by John Paul Brammer.
by Emily Bright

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5 hit men board a 'Bullet Train' in this fast and fun Japanese thriller

5 hit men board a 'Bullet Train' in this fast and fun Japanese thriller

No fewer than five assassins are on the high speed train at the center of Kotaro Isaka outlandish and virtuoso novel — and within pages, they're going after each other.
by John Powers

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All the moving parts fit together in this smart, emotional debut novel

All the moving parts fit together in this smart, emotional debut novel

YZ Chin's “Edge Case” follows a Malaysian immigrant working at a lousy, sexist startup, worried about her marriage and the thought of having to move back home — all topics it handles beautifully.
by Michael Schaub

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In this memoir, prison is a place — and a state of mind

In this memoir, prison is a place — and a state of mind

Novelist Hwang Sok-yong spent years in prison — a disruption that's reflected in the structure of his new memoir. It's a cinematic, riveting story that captures the struggles of his life and career.
by Thúy Đinh

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All might not end too well in Mona Awad's new novel

All might not end too well in Mona Awad's new novel

In “All's Well,” a theater professor in chronic pain, ignored by doctors, believes putting on one of Shakespeare's least popular plays will renew her — and then three mystery men offer her a cure.
by Kristen Martin

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In 'Like Other Girls,' you can be — and play — whatever you want. Even football.

In 'Like Other Girls,' you can be — and play — whatever you want. Even football.

Britta Lundin's “Like Other Girls” follows Mara, a hot-tempered 6'2" high school sports star who's booted from basketball for brawling, but finds a new life and a new way of being on the football field.
by Alethea Kontis

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