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.

If monsters were real, this book knows what you'd really do — nothing
What appears to be a simple, awful police killing turns out to be much worse in Cadwell Turnbull's new “No Gods, No Monsters,” set in a world where monsters and magic are real, and none of it is pretty.
Ask a Bookseller: A picture book for when it’s hard to get the words out
All September, Ask a Bookseller will be featuring recommendations for kids and teens. First up: Harriett Logan of Loganberry Books in Cleveland, Ohio, recommended the picture book “I Talk Like a River,” with an inventive metaphor that reframes stuttering.
In 'Today A Woman Went Mad In The Supermarket,' it's the details that really get you
Author Hilma Wolitzer, mother of Meg Wolitzer, tackles the ups and downs of a long, not always happy marriage in her excellently named new story collection, “Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket.”
Bessie Smith and 'Hell of a Book'
Two new books about being Black in America debut this summer—one by Jason Mott of North Carolina and one by Jackie Kay, a poet in Scotland. Guest host Euan Kerr talks with both authors about the difficulty of reckoning with race.
This sweet, mid-grade story is perfect for budding romance fans
If your kids aren't quite old enough for classic teen love stories, “Just Be Cool, Jenna Sakai” is a just-right read with a heroine who still spends Saturday nights playing board games with her family.
These 3 books are perfect for your back-to-middle-schooler
LeUyen Pham has written and illustrated more than 100 books for kids of all ages — so we asked her to give us some solid middle-grade reading recmomendations for kids heading back to school.
Ask a Bookseller re-sings the tales of Ovid from the women’s points of view
Autumn Siders of The Country Bookseller in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, recommends a re-telling of Ovid’s collection of ancient myths “Metamorphoses,” told by the tales’ female characters.