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.

Ask a Bookseller: A novel to spark book club conversation
Megan Wells of The Willow Bookstore in Perham, Minn. recommended “a beautiful, heartbreaking'“ novel, "If Only I Could Tell You" by Hannah Beckerman.
Free your home and the rest will follow
The Minimalists say a pared-down lifestyle doesn’t just free up space in your home — it frees up space in your life.
When your book publishes in a pandemic — authors talk about terrible timing
A league of unfortunate writers had their books come out in the height of the coronavirus crisis — there are even several online support groups for authors who published mid-pandemic.
Fascinating, mysterious 'Intimacies' doesn't let readers get close enough
Katie Kitamura's new novel follows an unnamed woman working as a translator at The Hague who works with war criminals — but can readers really know a narrator who remains resolutely unknown?
In 'Notes From The Burning Age,' we're the ones on fire
Claire North's new “Notes from the Burning Age” is set far in the future — but the titular burning age is our own, an age of waste and exploitation from which only fragments of knowledge remain.
Michael Wolff's third strike at Trump White House has hits and misses
The author has gifts as a writer: a novelistic eye for scene and detail, an ear for dramatic dialogue. His story keeps moving, free of constraints common to courtroom lawyers or newspaper reporters.
'Radha and Jai' is a toe-tapping dance romance treat
Nisha Sharma's new YA novel follows two Indian American teenagers who overcome differing backgrounds to find love while prepping for an important dance competition — a perfect teen movie setup.