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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.

How high school debate in 1990s Kansas explains the present: A novel argument

How high school debate in 1990s Kansas explains the present: A novel argument

Author Ben Lerner's new semi-autobiographical book, The Topeka School, finds a competitive-debate whiz kid navigating adolescence — and perhaps the precursors to today's American politics.
by Ari Shapiro

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Here are the finalists for the 2019 National Book Awards

Here are the finalists for the 2019 National Book Awards

The shortlists this year include Marlon James, Susan Choi, Carolyn Forché, Jason Reynolds and more than two dozen other authors and translators. Winners in five categories will be unveiled next month.
by Colin Dwyer

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In 'Tough Love,' former U.N. ambassador Susan Rice aims to reclaim her voice

In 'Tough Love,' former U.N. ambassador Susan Rice aims to reclaim her voice

The former national security adviser endured ridicule over comments made after the Benghazi embassy attack. Her book allows her tell her own story — and she is also open about foreign policy failures.
by Caitlyn Kim

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Zadie Smith has something for everyone in 'Grand Union'

Zadie Smith has something for everyone in 'Grand Union'

Smith's first short story collection is wide-ranging, covering everything from politics to murder to drag queens. Some of the slighter stories feel like footnotes, but many show off Smith at her best.
by Heller McAlpin

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'Ninth House' keeps watch over bloody mysteries

'Ninth House' keeps watch over bloody mysteries

Leigh Bardugo's new stand-alone thriller is set at a dark, twisty alternate version of Yale, where the famed secret societies practice world-manipulating magic — with sometimes deadly results.
by Jason Sheehan

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There are wolves beyond these 'Thirteen Doorways' — but also a whole world

There are wolves beyond these 'Thirteen Doorways' — but also a whole world

Laura Ruby's new young adult novel, set just during the Depression, follows a young girl and her sister who are trying to survive a stark orphanage — and attracting the attention of its local ghost.
by Caitlyn Paxson

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Mankato author draws on childhood experience to write YA novel on cults

Mankato author draws on childhood experience to write YA novel on cults

Megan Cooley Peterson says an experience with her family when she was a teenager spurred her interest in cults, and led to her writing her first young adult novel "The Liar's Daughter."
by Euan Kerr

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In 'The Man Who Played with Fire,' Stieg Larsson is brought to life again

In 'The Man Who Played with Fire,' Stieg Larsson is brought to life again

The author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had long been investigating the death of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. Journalist Jan Stocklassa convincingly and humbly picks up where he left off.
by Ilana Masad

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