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.

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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. 

'Piranesi,' a perfect fall read leading up to Halloween
Chloe Deblois of Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop in Damariscotta, Maine, recommended the novel “Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke, the bestselling author of “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.”
'This is an opportunity': Fareed Zakaria on 'Lessons For A Post-Pandemic World'
The CNN host and author says COVID-19 has widened the inequality gap. "The most important piece of what the federal government can do is to stabilize these people's lives with direct aid," he says.
'The Code For Love And Heartbreak' isn't 'Emma' — but it is charming
Jillian Cantor's new YA novel lifts some of the elements of Jane Austen's classic — like character names — wholesale. But you'll enjoy it more if you don't expect the plot to follow exactly.
A bookseller recommends 'The City in the Middle of the Night'
In the “The City in the Middle of the Night” by Charlie Jane Anders, there is a planet that is half in constant darkness and half in unending sunlight. Humans can only survive in the margin where the two halves meet. From two opposite cities — one autocratic, one lawless — come two girls whose lives intertwine.
Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong'o says prison formed him as a writer
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a perennial favorite for the Literature Nobel. He hasn't won yet — but he does have a new book out, a novel in verse that tells the origin story of Kenya's Gĩkũyũ people.