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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

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. Sam Stroozas rounds up local events and Minnesota book news you may have missed.

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where host Emily Bright 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 and produced by Kelly Gordon every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

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.

You haven't read a heist novel like this before

You haven't read a heist novel like this before

Cassandra Khaw's new novel follows a rag-tag band of criminals who have to pull together for one last heist — but in their hands, what could be an ordinary tale becomes visionary sci-fi adventure.
by Jessica P. Wick

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Ask a Bookseller: Crime-solving, ghost-hunting pet capers 

Ask a Bookseller: Crime-solving, ghost-hunting pet capers 

This week’s recommendation for kid readers has a “Secret Life of Pets” vibe. Angela Whited of Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul recommends the novel “The Great Ghost Hoax” by Emily Ecton, with spot illustrations by David Mottram.
by Emily Bright

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Dr. Leana Wen reflects on her memoir and the importance of public health

Dr. Leana Wen reflects on her memoir and the importance of public health

Dr. Leana Wen’s memoir is called “Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health.” She joined host Kerri Miller for a conversation about her memoir and how her personal story has shaped the public health leader she has become.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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3 sobering lessons learned since 9/11

3 sobering lessons learned since 9/11

These books provide a detailed accounting of events that have defined the U.S. role in the world in the first part of the 21st century. None makes for cheery reading, but all offer sobering lessons.
by Greg Myre

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In 'Civilizations,' Inca emperor Atahualpa conquers 16th-century Spain

In 'Civilizations,' Inca emperor Atahualpa conquers 16th-century Spain

Laurent Binet seems to genuinely want to know to what extent conquest and the cruelty it inevitably produces are reducible, redeemable, or escapable. He also plainly wants to play around.
by Lily Meyer

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Writer Maggie Nelson asks what it means to feel free

Writer Maggie Nelson asks what it means to feel free

In “On Freedom's” allusive, blunt, funny essays, the author of “The Argonauts” and “The Art of Cruelty” tries to imagine freedom as it exists in the contemporary contexts of art, sex, drugs, and climate.
by Annalisa Quinn

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Alabama's first Black poet laureate takes a personal approach to 'Reparations'

Alabama's first Black poet laureate takes a personal approach to 'Reparations'

Ashley M. Jones is Alabama's youngest and first Black poet laureate. Her new book “Reparations Now!” discusses America's history of Black oppression, and asks for more than monetary repairs.
by Jeevika Verma

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'Poet Warrior' Joy Harjo wants Native peoples to be seen as human

'Poet Warrior' Joy Harjo wants Native peoples to be seen as human

The nation's first Native American poet laureate has a new memoir in which she tells her own story — as well as the story of her sixth-generation grandfather, who was forced from his ancestral land.
by Terry Gross

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