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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.

Talking Volumes 2019 season guide

Talking Volumes 2019 season guide

The 20th season of Talking Volumes will feature interviews with Alice Hoffman, Saeed Jones, Tim O’Brien, Karen Armstrong, Lindy West and Tracy K. Smith.
by MPR News Staff

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'Gods of Jade and Shadow' spins a dark, dazzling fairy tale

'Gods of Jade and Shadow' spins a dark, dazzling fairy tale

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's novel is set in an alternate Jazz Age Mexico, where gods and monsters from Mayan mythology walk the Earth and war with each other for dominion over Xibalba, the land of death.
by Arkady Martine

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In 'Beijing Payback,' the immigrant experience, but make it a crime thriller

In 'Beijing Payback,' the immigrant experience, but make it a crime thriller

Daniel Nieh used to be a model and a translator. He says both of those professions went into his debut novel, a page-turner about a college basketball player unraveling his Chinese father's murder.
by Ari Shapiro

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In 'My Ideal Boyfriend Is a Croissant', the heroine is no flake

In 'My Ideal Boyfriend Is a Croissant', the heroine is no flake

Laura Dockrill's young adult novel stars a refreshingly direct, unapologetic — and occasionally crass — plus-sized girl who uses her doctor-imposed food diary to record her life and feelings.
by Alethea Kontis

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'At Dusk' exposes South Korea through a variety of lenses

'At Dusk' exposes South Korea through a variety of lenses

Hwang Sok-yong's novel is a perfect slice of Koreana; a touching, somewhat depressive narrative full of nostalgia exposing the underbelly of a nation via the people inhabiting society's bottom rung.
by Gabino Iglesias

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Spirited 'Family of Origin' defends the maligned millennial

Spirited 'Family of Origin' defends the maligned millennial

CJ Hauser's new novel centers on two estranged siblings trying to unravel their late father's work with a group of fringe biologists who believe evolution is running backward, away from millenials.
by Lily Meyer

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An imagined future speaks in 'Talking to Robots'

An imagined future speaks in 'Talking to Robots'

If you want to see what that future might look like, David Ewing Duncan's book is a fun place to start; he envisions various bots based on interviews with scientists and engineers, among others.
by Adam Frank

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Constantinople; Michelangelo; Elephants

Constantinople; Michelangelo; Elephants

Bookseller Matt Keliher recommends a short summer read by one of France's greatest living writers.
by Tracy Mumford

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