The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

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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.

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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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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. 

Barbara Bush saw Trump as a 'symbol of greed'
A new biography of the former first lady finds that her disdain for the Republican president, who transformed the party her own family had embodied for generations into his likeness, dates as least as far back as a 1990s diary entry.
'Love Your Enemies' ... and maaaybe you'll get them to agree with you
Arthur Brooks says that even if you're sure someone's lying, calling that person a liar won't help your case. His book describes "how decent people can save America from the culture of contempt."
Theoretical physics and down-to-earth loneliness in 'Lost and Wanted'
Nell Freudenberger's new novel is a bittersweet love story -- about a lost friend, a missed romance, and an all-consuming career -- that uses dense scientific concepts to illuminate everyday emotions.
'Women Talking' gives a human voice to horror
Miriam Toews' new novel is based on an awful true story: The drugging and rape of women in a Mennonite colony in Bolivia. Toews says she wanted to show the women as real humans, not isolated cultists.
In 'She Could Fly,' a teen wrestles with a host of psychological mysteries
Christopher Cantwell's new graphic novel follows teenaged Luna, who's struggling with mental health issues and finds a kind of hope in the appearance of a mysterious flying woman in the Chicago skies.
Can we overcome racial bias? 'Biased' author says to start by acknowledging it
In her new book, psychology professor Jennifer Eberhardt explores how unconscious racial bias shapes human behavior -- and suggests that we examine what situations can trigger racial bias.
The art of dying -- and living -- well
Modern medicine can help us live longer. But can it help us die well? That's the subject of Sunita Puri's poetic and practical new book, "That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour."