The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

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. 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.

Minnesota bestseller Abby Jimenez on the sweet and spicy genre of romance
Prolific romance writer Abby Jimenez joins Kerri Miller on Big Book and Bold Ideas for the very first time to talk about how romance is evolving, why it’s a vital part of reading culture and which one cupcake the Nadia Cakes creator would serve to a table of famous writers.
Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea releases her first memoir
“It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect,” traces Lea’s upbringing in Duluth, her rise to fame after winning NPR Music’s Tiny Desk contest in 2016, and how she’s navigated her disability throughout her life.
Dozens of Black pilots disappeared during WWII. Who are the men still lost?
Dozens of Tuskegee Airmen went missing in action during World War II. Most of them have not been found. Who were these men and what happened to them? In her book, “Forgotten Souls,” NPR investigative correspondent Cheryl W. Thompson tells their stories.
Move over, Mr. Ripley. ‘I Am Agatha’ is a delightfully duplicitous debut
Nancy Foley’s deviously-plotted novel centers on an aging artist in New Mexico. Brutally dismissive of anyone who disagrees with her, Agatha is a perfectly engaging (if unreliable) narrator.
New book with Minneapolis roots tells ‘How Black Music Took Over the World’
Musician Melvin Gibbs has built a career over decades nimbly crossing genres. He spoke with MPR News host Clay Masters about his new book, “How Black Music Took Over the World,” described as part memoir, part history and part science.
11 new books in April offer a chance to step inside someone else’s world
The books we’re spotlighting this month don’t exactly radiate escapist good vibes — but they do offer the opportunity to step into someone else's life and get to know their view of our shared world.
Ask a Bookseller: ‘Brawler’ by Lauren Groff
Maire Wilson of Huxley & Hiro Booksellers in Wilmington, Del., recommends Lauren Groff’s “Brawler.”