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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.

'Sky Without Stars': Vive la revolution ... in space!

'Sky Without Stars': Vive la revolution ... in space!

Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell's new novel recasts "Les Miserables" on a distant -- yet French-inflected -- planet where a powerful Regime keeps the populace split and oppressed.
by Caitlyn Paxson

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'Women Talking' gives a human voice to horror

'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.
by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

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In 'She Could Fly,' a teen wrestles with a host of psychological mysteries

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.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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Can we overcome racial bias? 'Biased' author says to start by acknowledging it

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.
by Ailsa Chang

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The art of dying -- and living -- well

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."
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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New climate books stress we are already far down the road to a different Earth

New climate books stress we are already far down the road to a different Earth

David Wallace-Wells' "The Uninhabitable Earth" and Nathaniel Rich's "Losing Earth" offer valuable perspectives on climate change -- if we're committed to being adult enough to face the future.
by Adam Frank

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'Sing to It' is worth the wait

'Sing to It' is worth the wait

Amy Hempel's first book of new material in 14 years showcases her immense talents as a fiction writer. It's a powerful collection of stories about uneasy, unmoored, even desperate people.
by Michael Schaub

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'Miranda in Milan:' No woman is an island

'Miranda in Milan:' No woman is an island

Katharine Duckett's new novel picks up where Shakespeare's Tempest left off, following sorceror's daughter Miranda to her new life as a court lady -- a life which proves darker than she'd hoped.
by Elizabeth Graham

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