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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. 

To adapt 'After the Rain,' artists cross all kinds of boundaries

To adapt 'After the Rain,' artists cross all kinds of boundaries

A new graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor's story "After the Rain" sets straightforward art against scattered, skewed panels to produce a sense of primal struggle between order and chaos.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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'Ambitious Girl' reminds kids: Your dreams are not a drawback

'Ambitious Girl' reminds kids: Your dreams are not a drawback

Activist and author Meena Harris, the niece of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, has written a children's book called “Ambitious Girl” in the hope that no young woman in the next generation will have her dreams characterized as a liability.
by Michel Martin

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Ask a Bookseller: A master class on writing, reading — and life

Ask a Bookseller: A master class on writing, reading — and life

Cat Bock of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn., recommended a brand-new work of literary criticism by George Saunders with a tempting subtitle indeed: “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life."
by Emily Bright

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Love and hope are at the heart of 'The Prophets'

Love and hope are at the heart of 'The Prophets'

Robert Jones Jr.'s debut novel is a love story between two enslaved men on a Mississippi plantation. He says that it was very important for him to depict love and art in the midst of sorrow.
by Scott Simon

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Publisher cancels book by Sen. Hawley, citing his role in inciting Capitol attack

Publisher cancels book by Sen. Hawley, citing his role in inciting Capitol attack

Simon & Schuster says it has decided not to publish a forthcoming book by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, citing the lawmaker's role in fomenting this week's "disturbing [and] deadly insurrection" at the U.S. Capitol.
by Scott Neuman

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'Persephone Station' aims for the stars — and almost makes it

'Persephone Station' aims for the stars — and almost makes it

Stina Leicht's new sci-fi novel has a lot of moving parts: Space opera, rough-and-tumble mercenaries, corporate intrigue, alien first contact — and to her credit, she almost pulls it all off.
by Jason Sheehan

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'The Liar's Dictionary' is a delight from A to Z

'The Liar's Dictionary' is a delight from A to Z

Eley Williamsdid her doctoral dissertation on "mountweazels," fake words inserted into dictionaries as copyright traps — and she builds on that in her charming debut novel, about an epic dictionary.
by Heller McAlpin

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'Outlawed' frontiers of gender and sexuality beckon in this sly western

'Outlawed' frontiers of gender and sexuality beckon in this sly western

Critic Maureen Corrigan has been describing Anna North's new novel to friends as "‘The Handmaid's Tale’ meets ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.’" It's a glib tagline, but not without justification.
by Maureen Corrigan

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Gatsby's great narrator 'Nick' finally gets his own backstory

Gatsby's great narrator 'Nick' finally gets his own backstory

Michael Farris Smith followed F. Scott Fitzgerald's "breadcrumbs" to write “Nick,” a prequel to “The Great Gatsby.” Revising the book, Smith was struck by the parallels between the 1920s and the 2020s.
by Steve Inskeep

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