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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.

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. 

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. 

George R.R. Martin really does know you want him to write faster

George R.R. Martin really does know you want him to write faster

Martin, who's working on the long-awaited sixth volume of his series A Song of Ice and Fire, rarely gives interviews — but NPR's Scott Simon recently caught up with him onstage at an awards ceremony.
by Scott Simon

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A story of the kidnapped children of Spain

A story of the kidnapped children of Spain

Bookseller Shirley Mullin recommends a deeply research novel about the children stolen from their parents under the Franco regime in Spain.

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In 'Stolen,' five boys are caught in a reverse Underground Railroad toward slavery

In 'Stolen,' five boys are caught in a reverse Underground Railroad toward slavery

Richard Bell's true tale details how even as the Underground Railroad ferried enslaved people north towards freedom, free black people vanished from northern cities to be sold into plantation slavery.
by Ilana Masad

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Alice Hoffman on love, loss and family in ‘The World That We Knew’

Alice Hoffman on love, loss and family in ‘The World That We Knew’

MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke with author Alice Hoffman as part of her Talking Volumes series at the Fitzgerald Theater. They discussed love and loss, what makes a family, and how we are shaped by those we cherish.
by Kerri Miller and Jeffrey Bissoy

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Bill Bryson's 'The Body' is missing his characteristic wit, ingenious way of analysis

Bill Bryson's 'The Body' is missing his characteristic wit, ingenious way of analysis

The author of the magisterial work A Short History of Nearly Everything turns his sights inside, but without the magic touch of the past that made his very big books transcend the common textbook.
by Kamil Ahsan

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Edna O'Brien bears witness to horror in 'Girl'

Edna O'Brien bears witness to horror in 'Girl'

O'Brien's 19th novel is based on the real story of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by jihadist group Boko Haram in 2014. It's a painful and essential read that ends on a hopeful yet realistic note.
by Michael Schaub

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