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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. 

Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea releases her first memoir

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.
by Kelly Gordon and Aleesa Kuznetsov

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Dozens of Black pilots disappeared during WWII. Who are the men still lost?

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.
by Ayesha Rascoe and Cheryl W. Thompson

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Move over, Mr. Ripley. ‘I Am Agatha’ is a delightfully duplicitous debut

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.
by Maureen Corrigan

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New book with Minneapolis roots tells ‘How Black Music Took Over the World’

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.
by Clay Masters and Gretchen Brown

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11 new books in April offer a chance to step inside someone else’s world

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.
by Colin Dwyer

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Ask a Bookseller: ‘Brawler’ by Lauren Groff

Ask a Bookseller: ‘Brawler’ by Lauren Groff

Maire Wilson of Huxley & Hiro Booksellers in Wilmington, Del., recommends Lauren Groff’s “Brawler.”
by Emily Bright

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‘Stay Alive,’ about daily life in Nazi Berlin, shows how easy it is to just go along

‘Stay Alive,’ about daily life in Nazi Berlin, shows how easy it is to just go along

Historian Ian Buruma chronicles the lives of ordinary Berliners — including his own father — during World War II. “Stay Alive” is about the past, but has powerful lessons for the present.
by John Powers

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Tayari Jones on female friendships, divergent bonds and 'Kin'

Tayari Jones on female friendships, divergent bonds and 'Kin'

Tayari Jones thought she was writing a book about the changing face of Atlanta. Instead, her new novel, “Kin” is an ode to the transformational power of female friendship.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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Ask a Bookseller: ‘Crow Talk’ by Eileen Garvin

Ask a Bookseller: ‘Crow Talk’ by Eileen Garvin

Charlotte Glover of Parnassus Books and Gifts in Ketchikan, Alaska, recommends “Crow Talk” by Eileen Garvin.
by Emily Bright

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