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. 

The poet of Minnesota, Vietnam and mythical men
Robert Bly is probably best known for his controversial nonfiction book 'Iron John.' But as a poet, he's conjured deeply resonant imagery of nature and war for 60 years, as his 'Collected Poems' reveal.
For December, 3 romantic holiday escapes
Get away from holiday stress and crummy weather with our romance picks for December. We've got great contemporary stories and a charming inversion of that classic Regency trope, the forced engagement.
The revolution will be driverless: Autonomous cars usher in big changes
Driverless vehicles could be the 'most disruptive technology to hit society worldwide since the advent of the motor car,' says former New York City Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz.
'Mary, Queen of Scots' is a case study of how political, human narratives get crafted
Stefan Zweig's famous book is as much about its own context as an execution 300 years ago; its archness signals a time capsule, except that the rhetoric around women in power has changed so little.