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.

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. 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. 

Reader suggestions: Books we should teach in schools
The decision to pull two books from reading lists for Duluth's high school students has sparked discussion about what literature should be required reading. We've compiled a list of books that MPR News readers said they'd recommend high school students be required to read.
'The Collected Schizophrenias' conveys what it's like to live with a 'hidden' illness
In her new book of riveting, honest, courageous essays, Esme Weijun Wang provides a series of lenses through which to observe schizophrenic disorders and, by extension, our (mis)understanding of them.
You'll find 12 fresh and unforgettable essays in 'Black is the Body'
Emily Bernard was recovering from a knife attack -- a "bizarre act of violence" -- when she decided to write a book of essays rooted, autobiographically, in the blackness of her own body.
Random House copy chief: Stand tall, wordsmiths! (But choose your battles)
The subtitle of Benjamin Dreyer's book is "An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style," but "the last thing that I want to do is to pass myself off as some sort of ferocious gatekeeper," he says.
'Bowlaway' scores a strike
Elizabeth McCracken's new novel -- a multigenerational saga centered around a Massachusetts bowling alley and its crew of misfits -- will grab you from the very first line.