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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR 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. 

Tickets are now available for our 26th season. Join award-winning journalist and MPR News host Kerri Miller (and special guest host Catharine Richart) as they talk with authors including Stacey Abrams, Patricia Lockwood, Misty Copeland, John Grisham, and Kate Baer. 

'It's hard to leave him': 'Sympathizer' spy story continues in 'The Committed'

'It's hard to leave him': 'Sympathizer' spy story continues in 'The Committed'

Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning spy novel “The Sympathizer” told the story of a communist double agent just after the Vietnam War — his quest for revolution resumes in “The Committed.”
by Scott Simon

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Ask a Bookseller: 'Saint X' is not your typical thriller

Ask a Bookseller: 'Saint X' is not your typical thriller

Maya Aurichio of Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colo., recommends "Saint X" by Alexis Schaitkin. She called the novel a thoughtful twist on a “classic beautiful dead white girl thriller.” 
by Emily Bright

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'Hunt, Gather, Parent' offers lessons collected around the world

'Hunt, Gather, Parent' offers lessons collected around the world

NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff found that parenting books she read after becoming a mom left a lot out. When she went through a tough period with her daughter, she traveled the world in search of guidance.
by Rachel Martin

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Tim O'Brien on late-in-life fatherhood and the things he carried from Vietnam

Tim O'Brien on late-in-life fatherhood and the things he carried from Vietnam

Now 74, Tim O'Brien didn't become a father until his late 50s. He reflects on writing, mortality and his experiences in Vietnam in the new documentary, “The War and Peace of Tim O'Brien.”
by Terry Gross

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A botched execution leads to a search for answers in 'Two Truths and a Lie'

A botched execution leads to a search for answers in 'Two Truths and a Lie'

Ellen McGarrahan was a young reporter for The Miami Herald, when she witnessed an execution that went horribly wrong. She revisits the case of Jesse Tafero in an intense new true crime book.
by Maureen Corrigan

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Lawrence Ferlinghetti, beat poet and small-press publisher, dies at 101

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, beat poet and small-press publisher, dies at 101

In 1956, Ferlinghetti published the first edition of Allen Ginsberg's “Howl.” According to one critic, his greatest accomplishments were fighting censorship and starting a small-press revolution.
by Tom Vitale

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