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. 

'Giants of the Monsoon Forest' explores the lives of working elephants in Asia
With details at once compelling and disturbing, geographer Jacob Shell describes the lives of the elephants of mountainous Myanmar and northeastern India that haul timber or transport people.
Intelligence Squared: Should you love your enemies?
Think about your most deeply held political belief. Could you love someone who adamantly and passionately disagreed with it? In this special episode, host John Donvan sits down with Arthur Brooks, one of America's leading political thinkers, to discuss a bold premise: loving your enemies.
Can a chicken recipe change your life?
Ella Risbridger was suicidally depressed when she roasted a chicken and ended up writing an uplifting, genre-bending cookbook that reads like a magical mix of memoir, novel and self-help book.
'The Great Successor' aims to fill in blanks on the life of North Korea's Kim Jong Un
Contrary to prevailing stereotypes, in Anna Fifield's reported story Kim is anything but a madman -- cold-blooded, for sure, but playing a calculated defensive strategy aimed at standing up his rule.