Stay Curious. Stay Connected.
MailNewsletters♡Donate Now

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.

Jenny Slate's 'Little Weirds' is just not weird enough

Jenny Slate's 'Little Weirds' is just not weird enough

The stand-up comic's essays have soft and lovely moments, steering readers toward finding their own vulnerabilities. But Slate is not as open to self-exposure on the page as she is on the stage.
by Lily Meyer

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
'The Great Pretender' seeks the truth 'on being sane in insane places'

'The Great Pretender' seeks the truth 'on being sane in insane places'

Journalist and Brain on Fire author Susannah Cahalan writes in an urgent, personal book that the '70s study by David Rosenhan had an outsized effect on psychiatry — and may have been fatally flawed.
by Michael Schaub

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
In 'Get a Life, Chloe Brown,' love doesn't cure all — but it sure is fun

In 'Get a Life, Chloe Brown,' love doesn't cure all — but it sure is fun

Talia Hibbert's new novel stars Chloe, who's determined to get a life after years of coping with chronic pain, and Red, the mysterious and extremely annoying (at first) super at her new building.
by Denny S. Bryce

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
'Felon' author says, 'everybody has to tell their kids something'

'Felon' author says, 'everybody has to tell their kids something'

Lawyer-poet Reginald Dwayne Betts for years hid the fact that he had served time in prison. Now, this time in his life is at the center of his new collection of poems.
by Leila Fadel

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
You'll float away on the warm waters of 'The Starless Sea'

You'll float away on the warm waters of 'The Starless Sea'

Erin Morgenstern's long-awaited followup to The Night Circus imagines a world of magical doors leading to a literal underground sea — surrounded by layers of pleasurable mystery and mythography.
by Amal El-Mohtar

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Kevin Wilson is on fire in 'Nothing to See Here'

Kevin Wilson is on fire in 'Nothing to See Here'

Wilson's new novel centers on a young woman taking care of two kids with a disturbing ability: When upset, they burst into flames. But in Wilson's hands, what could be scary is funny, even beautiful.
by Heller McAlpin

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
You may have to wait to borrow a new e-book from the library

You may have to wait to borrow a new e-book from the library

Macmillan Publishers Ltd. will begin restricting sales of new e-books to libraries to one per library system for the first eight weeks after publication. Libraries are fighting back.
by Lynn Neary

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
The stunning memoir that could make Hemingway jealous

The stunning memoir that could make Hemingway jealous

Bookseller Jinny Amundson recommends a memoir by Beryl Markham, the first person to fly solo, nonstop across the Atlantic from east to west.
by Tracy Mumford

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
'Eat Joy': Top authors serve up recipes that gave them comfort in dark times

'Eat Joy': Top authors serve up recipes that gave them comfort in dark times

In a new book of essays, writers such as Claire Messud and Edwidge Danticat share stories of surviving dark times and the foods entwined with those memories. Think of it as a cathartic dinner party.

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Racial unrest of early '90s Los Angeles resurfaces in 'Your House Will Pay'

Racial unrest of early '90s Los Angeles resurfaces in 'Your House Will Pay'

Steph Cha's new novel takes place in the present day, but she connects her story of Korean American and black communities in LA to the riots and injustices of nearly three decades ago.
by Ailsa Chang

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!