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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.

Picture book deals head-on with the loss of a child

Picture book deals head-on with the loss of a child

There are few harder blows to a family than the loss of a child. Not only can it leave parents and siblings with unbearable grief, but those around them can experience helplessness and feel unable to respond. A new picture book by a St. Paul writer and an illustrator takes on these huge emotions in a way they hope will help everyone.
by Euan Kerr

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'Crooked Hallelujah' sings of beauty and trouble between mothers and daughters

'Crooked Hallelujah' sings of beauty and trouble between mothers and daughters

Kelli Jo Ford's novel follows three generations of Cherokee women trying to forge a future in the harsh environment of the 1980s oil boom in Texas — and learning just how difficult that can be.
by Sarah McCammon

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Cartoonist Adrian Tomine's self-deprecating, self-aware humor shines in memoir

Cartoonist Adrian Tomine's self-deprecating, self-aware humor shines in memoir

In framing Tomine's life trajectory via professional and personal setbacks and moments of mortification, “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist” becomes mesmerizing, funny, and deeply honest.
by Ilana Masad

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Author Elliot Ackerman on 'Red Dress in Black and White'

Author Elliot Ackerman on 'Red Dress in Black and White'

The latest novel from author and journalist Elliot Ackerman explores both a story of personal and political intrigue in Turkey. We spoke with him about the novel and the relationship between writing fiction and nonfiction.
by Kerri Miller and Breann Schossow

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Think fantasy is kid stuff? Try 'Trouble the Saints'

Think fantasy is kid stuff? Try 'Trouble the Saints'

Alaya Dawn Johnson's new novel is set in New York on the eve of World War II, in a world where a few lucky (well, not that lucky) people are gifted with "saints' hands," that give them strange skills.
by Danny Lore

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Exhausting effect of FOIA requests evident in 'Baseless'

Exhausting effect of FOIA requests evident in 'Baseless'

Nicholson Baker's book misses the mark in an aim to take readers on a quest to discover if the U.S. used biological weapons developed in the '50s — and to examine the failings of public records law.
by Tim Mak

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Alex Trebek is here to tell you, 'The Answer Is ...'

Alex Trebek is here to tell you, 'The Answer Is ...'

The Jeopardy! host didn't plan to write an autobiography. "I'm just a quiz show host who's been doing the same job for 36 years," he says. But writing the book gave him "a great deal of satisfaction."
by David Greene

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The real 'Hamnet' died centuries ago, but this novel is timeless

The real 'Hamnet' died centuries ago, but this novel is timeless

Maggie O'Farell's new novel confront's a parent's worst nightmare: The loss of a child. In this case, it's Hamnet, the real-life son of William Shakespeare, whose death may have inspired “Hamlet.”
by Heller McAlpin

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The Thread: 'My Dark Vanessa' by Kate Elizabeth Russell

The Thread: 'My Dark Vanessa' by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Are you flying through your summer reading list? Kerri Miller is here for you with the first of three delicious midsummer thrillers to keep you reading late into those summer nights.
by Kerri Miller

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