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.

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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. 

'Bradley of Him' is a surreally fun desert run
Connor Willumson's graphic novel follows the trail of a mysterious athlete, or possibly an actor — gawky, pale, never takes his mirror shades off — running through the desert outside Las Vegas.
A 'beautifully told' family drama
Bookseller Gwen Danfelt recommends a beautiful novel that weaves together a sense of place with a pressing question of identity.
In new book, Minnesota author draws attention to 'horrific' time in state's history
While she did not know her maternal grandmother, Sheila O’Connor now knows that in 1935, she gave birth at the age of 15 and — as punishment — was committed to the Minnesota Homeschool for Girls in Sauk Center, Minn., for six years.
Talking Volumes: Karen Armstrong on ‘The Lost Art of Scripture’
Karen Armstrong joined Kerri Miller on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater for Talking Volumes, where she spoke about the need to transform Scripture into “practical action.”
'I Am Happy Because I Survived': Refugee writer is free after years in detention
Behrouz Boochani won Australia's richest literary prize earlier this year — but the asylum-seeker, detained offshore, couldn't accept in person. Now, he has made it to New Zealand with a message.
'The Great Pretender' investigates a landmark moment in psychiatric history
In the '70s David Rosenhan and seven "pseudopatients" went undercover in mental health wards. Their resulting article rocked the psychiatric world. But Susannah Cahalan struggled to confirm the facts.