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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.

Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie headline 2019 Booker Prize shortlist

Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie headline 2019 Booker Prize shortlist

Atwood made the list for her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, and Rushdie for his reimagining of Don Quixote. Chigozie Obioma, Elif Shafak, Lucy Ellmann and Bernardine Evaristo round out the finalists.
by Colin Dwyer

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Structural injustice is at the core of 'We, The Survivors'

Structural injustice is at the core of 'We, The Survivors'

Tash Aw's beautifully written new novel focuses on class issues in contemporary Malaysia, where his compelling protagonist is struggling to lead a quiet life after a long-ago murder conviction.
by Lily Meyer

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'Just Ask!' says Sonia Sotomayor. She knows what it's like to feel different

'Just Ask!' says Sonia Sotomayor. She knows what it's like to feel different

We're all different and that's good, says the U.S. Supreme Court justice. Her new children's book about embracing diversity portrays kids of all abilities working together to create a gorgeous garden.
by Samantha Balaban

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In 'The Ventriloquists,' the true story of a fake newspaper

In 'The Ventriloquists,' the true story of a fake newspaper

E.R. Ramzipoor's novel tells the story a group of resisters in Belgium during World War II who lampooned the Nazis by putting out a satirical edition of the newspaper Le Soir, then a Nazi mouthpiece.
by Jean Zimmerman

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'Palestine + 100' explores contested territory, past and future

'Palestine + 100' explores contested territory, past and future

A new anthology invites Palestinian writers to imagine their homeland in 2048 — 100 years after the creation of Israel. The stories are inventive, dextrous, painful, and even sometimes playful.
by Amal El-Mohtar

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If you love Octavia Butler, Colson Whitehead and Toni Morrison

If you love Octavia Butler, Colson Whitehead and Toni Morrison

Bookseller Nialle Sylvan says that Rivers Solomon’s novel earns comparisons to some of the biggest names in literature.
by Tracy Mumford

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Coming to terms with loss and grief in the gorgeous 'Everything Inside'

Coming to terms with loss and grief in the gorgeous 'Everything Inside'

Edwidge Danticat's new story collection explores the ways people deal with death, from a woman whose barely known father is dying to a man facing his last seconds as he falls from a construction site.
by Michael Schaub

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Telepathy and surveillance converge in 'Overthrow'

Telepathy and surveillance converge in 'Overthrow'

Caleb Crain's perceptive novel examines the ways we're all under surveillance by corporations and computers, every move and click tracked, and the ways that intersects with how we watch each other.
by Annalisa Quinn

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'The Warehouse' is scary because it's plausible

'The Warehouse' is scary because it's plausible

Rob Hart's new dystopian cyberthriller imagines a near-future America in a state of semi-collapse, where the only jobs available are in company towns built by an enormous conglomerate called Cloud.
by Gabino Iglesias

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