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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. 

‘Buffy’ podcasters built a community — and they didn’t let divorce break it

‘Buffy’ podcasters built a community — and they didn’t let divorce break it

“Buffering the Vampire Slayer” podcasters Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo write about their community of fans, and how it help them keep working together after a split, in “Slayers, Every One of Us.”
by Alan Yu

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Do what you can. A new kids’ book shows how even ‘The Littlest Drop’ helps

Do what you can. A new kids’ book shows how even ‘The Littlest Drop’ helps

A brave hummingbird does what she can to fight a fire in Sascha Alper’s new book. It was one of the last projects illustrator Jerry Pinkney worked on before he died. His son Brian finished it for him.
by Samantha Balaban

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5 buzzy books out this week that look inward

5 buzzy books out this week that look inward

A number of books out this week — a tale of tribal politics, a close-focus mystery, measured criticism and a unique relationship — are tied up in answering the question: How do we define ourselves?
by Colin Dwyer

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Most Americans want to read more books. We just don’t.

Most Americans want to read more books. We just don’t.

When we worry about the declining rates of literacy and a lack of reading skills, it’s often about children. But how often are adults reading these days? And what are we reading? A new NPR/Ipsos poll finds out.
by Andrew Limbong

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Who gets to be a critic? And why are some so ‘bad’?

Who gets to be a critic? And why are some so ‘bad’?

Andrea Long Chu and Britney Luse discuss why art is a “fossil record” of desire, what kind of authority critics have, and why we might need to rethink what criticism should do for us.
by Brittany Luse, Liam McBain, Barton Girdwood, Neena Pathak and Veralyn Williams

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Graphic Gatsby: K. Woodman-Maynard on adapting a classic for comics

Graphic Gatsby: K. Woodman-Maynard on adapting a classic for comics

Minnesota graphic novelist K. Woodman-Maynard discusses her adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” into a graphic novel, reflecting on its visual style, classroom potential and enduring themes as the original novel turns 100.
by Jacob Aloi

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