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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.

'The Compatriots' suggests the days of domestic-only politics are behind us

'The Compatriots' suggests the days of domestic-only politics are behind us

Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, revered experts on the Russian secret service, give the book a credibility most others on Russian clandestine operations lack — and they also change the optics.
by Leonid Ragozin

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Ronan Farrow: 'Catch And Kill' tactics protected both Weinstein and Trump

Ronan Farrow: 'Catch And Kill' tactics protected both Weinstein and Trump

He was followed and his house bugged as he reported on allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Farrow says it's part of a pattern in which powerful entities go to extremes to quash unfavorable stories.
by Terry Gross

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Elton John on music, addiction and family: 'I'm proud of who I am now'

Elton John on music, addiction and family: 'I'm proud of who I am now'

The artist says his father's early misgivings about his chosen career became a source of motivation: "He gave me the determination to make something of myself." John's new memoir is called Me.
by Terry Gross

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How Julie Andrews made herself at 'Home' in Hollywood

How Julie Andrews made herself at 'Home' in Hollywood

In a new memoir, the actress writes about the films and creative collaborations — like Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music — that marked the height of her fame.
by Rachel Martin

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'The Man Who Saw Everything' is an eye-opening read

'The Man Who Saw Everything' is an eye-opening read

Deborah Levy's new book considers themes of objectification, betrayal and focus, centered on a historian who goes to East Berlin and finds himself both the observer and the observed.
by Heller McAlpin

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'Orpheus Girl,' painful and beautiful, puts a modern twist on myth

'Orpheus Girl,' painful and beautiful, puts a modern twist on myth

Author and poet Brynne Rebele-Henry transplants the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice to modern-day Texas, for a wrenching tale of two young women whose love lands them in a religious re-education camp.
by Alethea Kontis

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'An incredible depiction of small town life'

Bookseller Adah Fitzgeral recommends a novel that’s about “finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.” It revolves around a small town near the coast in North Carolina, and a woman who lives life very much her own way.
by Tracy Mumford

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Nobel Prizes in Literature go to Peter Handke and Olga Tokarczuk

Nobel Prizes in Literature go to Peter Handke and Olga Tokarczuk

The Swedish Academy made the unusual move Thursday of recognizing both Handke, an Austrian writer, and Tokarczuk, who is Polish, after scandal prevented the committee from awarding a prize last year.
by Colin Dwyer

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