The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR News

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

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where The Thread 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 every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

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Sign up for The Thread newsletter to get reading recommendations from Kerri Miller and other bookworms around the MPR newsroom. Find reviews for new releases, as well as hidden gems you may have missed.

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. 

Tickets are now available for our 26th season. Join award-winning journalist and MPR News host Kerri Miller (and special guest host Catharine Richart) as they talk with authors including Stacey Abrams, Patricia Lockwood, Misty Copeland, John Grisham, and Kate Baer. 

'It Came from Something Awful' links 4Chan and today's political discourse
If author Dale Beran is to be believed, all the world's an Internet forum. His new book offers an overview of Internet culture and explores the mindset and techniques of early Internet trolls.
'Marilou is Everywhere,' and also a miracle
Sarah Elaine Smith's debut novel, about a girl from an impoverished, broken family who impersonates a missing neighbor in order to get motherly attention, is otherworldly in its beauty and power.
From insomnia to sexsomnia, unlocking the 'secret world' of sleep
Neurologist Guy Leschziner, author of The Nocturnal Brain, says the brain can be in different sleep stages at once — which explains why people sometimes walk, eat and even have sex when sleeping.
'Lager Queen' author was tired of caricatures of Midwestern women
J. Ryan Stradal wasn't seeing the strong, Midwestern women who raised him reflected well in contemporary fiction. So he decided to write those characters himself in “The Lager Queen of Minnesota.”