Stay Curious. Stay Connected.
MailNewsletters♡Donate Now

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

Sign Up for The Thread® Newsletter

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.

'Delayed Rays of a Star' sheds light on 3 film legends

'Delayed Rays of a Star' sheds light on 3 film legends

Amanda Lee Koe's new novel was inspired by a famous photograph — Anna May Wong, Marlene Dietrich and the notorious actress and director Leni Riefenstahl, posing together at a Berlin party in 1928.
by Ilana Masad

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
3 sisters come of age, dreamily, in 'Three Summers'

3 sisters come of age, dreamily, in 'Three Summers'

Margarita Liberaki's novel, first published in 1946, follows three young women growing up in the Athens countryside alongside a colorful cast of family members, secret-keeping servants and local boys.
by Martha Anne Toll

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
'The Cuban Comedy' walks the line between politics and poetry

'The Cuban Comedy' walks the line between politics and poetry

Pablo Medina's novel walks a fine line between poetry and political satire. It follows a woman in rural 1960s Cuba who longs to be a poet, and the troubles she faces when she succeeds.
by Gabino Iglesias

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Enter the quarantine around 'Wilder Girls' at your own risk

Enter the quarantine around 'Wilder Girls' at your own risk

Rory Power's debut novel combines creeping, corrupting body horror with the intense bonds between teenage girls at an isolated school for a post-apocalypse story that's fresh, horrible and beautiful.
by Caitlyn Paxson

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
A return to America's Eden

A return to America's Eden

He was the personal doctor of both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and the surgeon behind America's first botanical garden, which he planted for medicinal purposes. But most people have never heard of David Hosack.
by Stephanie Curtis and Kelly Gordon

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
'Saturday Night Ghost Club' celebrates the wonders and horrors of being a kid

'Saturday Night Ghost Club' celebrates the wonders and horrors of being a kid

Craig Davidson's new novel follows a group of kids through a strange summer of hunting urban legends -- it's a coming-of-age story that's also about loss, particularly what we lose when we grow up.
by Jason Heller

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Smart and propulsive 'Copperhead' asks: Can you outrun your family's sins?

Smart and propulsive 'Copperhead' asks: Can you outrun your family's sins?

Alexi Zentner's new novel follows a high school football star's efforts to separate himself from his racist family. It's an unsparing story about race, class and the limits of individual possibility.
by Maureen Corrigan

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
In 'For the Good of the Game,' Bud Selig tells of the MLB steroid era

In 'For the Good of the Game,' Bud Selig tells of the MLB steroid era

The baseball commissioner's charming, informative memoir is about the best you can hope to read from a powerful professional sports insider -- even if Selig is too defensive on steroids.
by Scott Detrow

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!