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. 

First known cookbook by a Black American woman gets new edition 160 years later
Malinda Russell’s “A Domestic Cookbook” was first published in 1866. It contains least a hundred recipes for sweets, plus recipes for shampoo and cologne — and remedies for toothaches.
Lindsay Chervinsky’s new book ‘Making the Presidency’ teaches us about the past and present
Historian Lindsay Chervinsky’s new book, “Making the Presidency,” is a profile of John Adams. But it’s also an instructive examination of how the presidency has evolved to become what it is today.
Minneapolis author Curtis Sittenfeld’s new book delves into love, friendship and being wrong
Curtis Sittenfeld writes fiction based on what “fascinates and perplexes” her. Her newest collection of short stories “Show Don’t Tell” continues that theme.
3 Harry Potter fan fiction authors are coming to a bookstore near you
Fan fiction — unsanctioned, unofficially published works based on popular novels or films — was intentionally never mainstream. The coming months will see a trio of titles by popular Draco and Hermione — Dramione — fanfic authors.
Couple gets engaged with a ‘Frog and Toad’-inspired book at Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul
Lily Tschudi-Campbell and Cassidy Foust’s love story includes a passion for children’s literature, the “Frog and Toad” series and the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul.