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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Novelist doctor skewers corporate medicine in 'Man's 4th Best Hospital'

Novelist doctor skewers corporate medicine in 'Man's 4th Best Hospital'

Samuel Shem's 1978 novel, “The House of God,” was a sardonic look at U.S. medicine through a young doctor's eyes. Shem's new fiction checks in with the same crew in the age of medicine by smartphone.
by Mara Gordon

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'Mama Hissa's Mice' creep through a dystopian future Kuwait

'Mama Hissa's Mice' creep through a dystopian future Kuwait

Saud Alsanousi's novel follows a group of Kuwaiti kids growing up in the 1980s — then jumps to a near future torn by sectarian violence. It's a resonant book that asks more questions than it answers.
by Ilana Masad

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In 'Some Of Us Are Very Hungry Now,' revelations morph into mirrors

In 'Some Of Us Are Very Hungry Now,' revelations morph into mirrors

Andre Perry's debut essay collection reads like a slightly fragmented memoir focused on the search for identity, the desire to write, and his constant sense of unease as a black man in Iowa City.
by Gabino Iglesias

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After comic Garry Shandling's death, Judd Apatow found Zen in his diaries

After comic Garry Shandling's death, Judd Apatow found Zen in his diaries

"He completely changed my life," Apatow says of his mentor. “It's Garry Shandling's Book,” which Apatow edited, explores the insecurities and personal trauma that Shandling turned into comedy.
by Terry Gross

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Lindy West: 'The Witches are Coming' — and they are rightfully angry

Lindy West: 'The Witches are Coming' — and they are rightfully angry

"For a long time, a certain set of men have called women like me 'witches' to silence and discredit us," West says. Her book explores misogyny, the #MeToo movement and growing up female in America.
by Noel King

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'Space Invaders' maps pixelated battles onto real-life conflict

'Space Invaders' maps pixelated battles onto real-life conflict

The characters in Nona Fernández' new book are coming of age during Chile's brutal military dictatorship — and for them, video games are a useful framework for understanding the dangers all around.
by Lily Meyer

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Face-to-face with a grizzly

Face-to-face with a grizzly

Duluth author Alex Messenger's new book recounts how his encounter with a grizzly bear during a 600-mile canoe trip changed his life.
by Euan Kerr

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'The Movie Musical!' is a symphony in praise of the 'razzmatazz' of the genre

'The Movie Musical!' is a symphony in praise of the 'razzmatazz' of the genre

Jeanine Basinger argues, authoritatively and passionately, that the musical has never really left us, that there's relevance and inspiration to be gleaned from the golden age of Hollywood musicals.
by Jason Heller

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London's 'Mudlark' pulls treasure from the Thames

London's 'Mudlark' pulls treasure from the Thames

"I'm finding these ordinary pieces that perhaps, almost undoubtedly, nobody's touched since the last person who dropped it," Lara Maiklem says. "To reach down and pick that up is like reaching back through time, into history itself. It's the closest thing I can imagine to time travel."
by Petra Mayer

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