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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.

'Life with Picasso' stands as an invaluable work of art history

'Life with Picasso' stands as an invaluable work of art history

Newly reissued, the intellectual heft of Francoise Gilot's now classic memoir is in its art criticism, even as its emotional arc lies in Picasso and Gilot's unequal romance.
by Lily Meyer

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In 'City of Girls,' the breezy, bold best days of our lives

In 'City of Girls,' the breezy, bold best days of our lives

Elizabeth Gilbert's new novel is set in the New York theater community of the 1940s -- an effervescent golden age for the women who congregate at the offbeat Lily Playhouse.
by Jean Zimmerman

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'Patsy' discovers her dreams don't match reality

'Patsy' discovers her dreams don't match reality

Nicole Dennis-Benn packs a lot of uncomfortable truths into this novel about a Jamaican woman who emigrates to New York looking for an old love and a new life, leaving her mother and daughter behind.
by Michael Schaub

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'Underland' connects us to dazzling worlds beneath our feet

'Underland' connects us to dazzling worlds beneath our feet

The beauty of Robert Macfarlane's writing, and of the natural world it describes, is immense. His words also act as a warning, ensuring a recognition of human harms to the environment.
by Barbara J. King

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Cheating death will cost you in 'The Wise and the Wicked'

Cheating death will cost you in 'The Wise and the Wicked'

Rebecca Podos' new novel follows a girl who's inherited her family power: She can see her Time, the moment of her death. But then she discovers it's possible to evade your Time -- for a painful price.
by Caitlyn Paxson

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'I Love You So Mochi' is a sweet but substantial treat

'I Love You So Mochi' is a sweet but substantial treat

Sarah Kuhn's new novel, about a Japanese American girl wrestling with her identity and her place in the world during a visit to Japan, is at once universally relatable and specifically Asian American.
by Mallory Yu

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