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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.

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.

For author Kevin Wilson, writing offers a brief reprieve from Tourette's

For author Kevin Wilson, writing offers a brief reprieve from Tourette's

For Wilson, Tourette's syndrome means living with intrusive thoughts that flash disturbing images without warning. His novel, Nothing to See Here, was inspired by visions of spontaneous combustion.
by Terry Gross

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In new memoir 'Ordinary Girls,' Jaquira Díaz searches for home

In new memoir 'Ordinary Girls,' Jaquira Díaz searches for home

Jaquira Díaz grew up in a public housing project in Puerto Rico; her father was a drug dealer and her mother was diagnosed as schizophrenic. As a child, she says, "I thought everyone lived like this."
by Steve Inskeep

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'Shadow Network' offers a lesson on the American right's mastery of politics

'Shadow Network' offers a lesson on the American right's mastery of politics

Anne Nelson links "the manpower and media of the Christian right," "finances of Western plutocrats," and "strategy of right-wing Republican political operatives" via the Council for National Policy.
by Michael Schaub

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'It Would Be Night in Caracas' mourns a mother and a country

'It Would Be Night in Caracas' mourns a mother and a country

Karina Sainz Borgo's novel follows a woman dealing with the death of her mother while trying to escape the violence and scarcity gripping Venezuela — an anarchy the book presents in shocking detail.
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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'Burn It Down' diagnoses, analyzes the state of American women's anger

'Burn It Down' diagnoses, analyzes the state of American women's anger

The anthology demonstrates that American women are just now at the starting line of exploring and understanding their anger; it's more about how they live with anger than about what makes them angry.
by Katharine Coldiron

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Surrealist Silvina Ocampo shines in two new translations

Surrealist Silvina Ocampo shines in two new translations

Surrealist writer and poet Silvina Ocampo has been called "the best kept secret of Argentine letters," and two new translations have beautifully captured her evocative prose style for new readers.
by Lily Meyer

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Gene Weingarten mines magic from 'One Day'

Gene Weingarten mines magic from 'One Day'

The humorist asked three strangers to pick a random day, month and year out of a hat — December 28, 1986, as it turned out. And then he set out to document every single thing he could for that day.
by Scott Simon

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