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. 

Stories converge in a flooded 'Bangkok'
Pitchaya Sudbanthad's novel follows a broad cast of characters who gradually come together in and around a condominium tower in Bangkok. It's a promising debut that expertly evokes a sense of place.
'Tram Car 015' is a delightful ride
P. Djeli Clark's novella about about two supernatural investigators on the trail of a malign spirit in a magical alternate Cairo packs wonderful characters into a thoughtfully-built world.
A chance meeting changes lie in Sophie Kinsella's latest
The author of the bestselling Shopaholic series is back, with a new novel about a woman who's addicted not to shopping but to fixing the lives of the people around her -- at the expense of her own.
In 'The City in the Middle of the Night,' big ideas lead to big upheavals
Charlie Jane Anders' new novel, set on an inhospitable alien planet, is about rebels, smugglers and lobster-like monsters, but also about how grand political ideas break down -- and who that hurts.