The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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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: Live at the State Fair
September has begun, and with it, the anticipation of autumn weather, school, and great fall reads. MPR News host and newscaster Emily Bright spoke with three booksellers from Minnesota about current trends and their favorite reads during a live conversation at the Minnesota State Fair.
Minnesotan adapts ‘Tuck Everlasting’ into a graphic novel, celebrating its 50th anniversary
Minneapolis-based artist K. Woodman-Maynard has adapted Natalie Babbitt’s classic “Tuck Everlasting” into a new graphic novel, collaborating with the author’s estate to create a vibrant, modernized retelling that highlights the story’s themes of loneliness, connection and mortality.
This week sees a number of new books from seasoned heavy hitters
A number of seasoned veterans with a taste for big swings and clever premises have new novels out this week, including stories of gothic horror and dark academia from the likes of R.F. Kuang, Leah Stein and Helen Oyeyemi.
What books shaped you in high school? Here's what you said
More than 1,100 of you wrote to tell us about the books that broadened your horizons, that you kept through every move, that inspired you to become English majors, librarians, writers and teachers.
What being a mailman taught Stephen Grant about work, belonging and going the extra mile
When Steve Grant lost his job during the pandemic, the only replacement he could find was delivering mail in his hometown. But being a letter carrier revealed things about who he was and how he fit that he never could have expected.
Ask a Bookseller: ‘The Hounding’ by Xenobe Purvis 
Mary Ellen Phillips of Maria's Bookshop in Durango, Colo., recommends The Hounding" by Xenobe  Purvis.
“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” is about two flappers on the prowl for sugar daddies. First published in 1925, Anita Loos’ cheeky comic novel has now been reissued in paperback.
Be there pirates? The true story of Capt. Kidd
Was Capt. Kidd a notorious pirate whose ill-gotten treasure is still hunted today? Or was he an experienced sea captain who got caught up in the geopolitics of his day? Parse the true story from the scuttlebutt on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas.