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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. 

In 'Trish Trash,' it's roller derby on Mars

In 'Trish Trash,' it's roller derby on Mars

Jessica Abel's comic 'Trish Trash, Rollergirl of Mars' isn't just a sports story and a coming-of-age tale, it's a masterful critique of capitalism that stays engaging despite a few wobbles.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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Surrealism meets sci-fi in 'Parallel Lives'

Surrealism meets sci-fi in 'Parallel Lives'

Olivier Schrauwen's new graphic novel is cold and rejecting, giddy and uncontrolled, all at the same time. It's semi-autobiographical and loosely sci-fi, set in an unsettlingly minimalist future.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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'Broken Ground' balances location, character and props in perfect proportion

'Broken Ground' balances location, character and props in perfect proportion

Prolific crime writer Val McDermid's latest catches up with plainspoken cold-case detective Karen Pirie as she deals with personal troubles, machinations at work and a mystery going back decades.
by Bethanne Patrick

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In love with teen lit: Remembering the 'Paperback Crush' of the '80s and '90s

In love with teen lit: Remembering the 'Paperback Crush' of the '80s and '90s

As a preteen Gabrielle Moss devoured books in "The Baby-Sitters Club" and "Sweet Valley High" series. She recently reread them for "nostalgic stress relief" and ended up writing a book on the genre.
by Ailsa Chang

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New biography chronicles Bing Crosby's most beloved years

New biography chronicles Bing Crosby's most beloved years

Crosby set the mold for the multimedia star: on radio, on the big screen and on record. The 1940s was the period when his star shone brightest and 'Swinging on a Star' by Gary Giddins tells that story.
by Tom Vitale

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Extreme ideologies clash in 'North of Dawn'

Extreme ideologies clash in 'North of Dawn'

Author Nuruddin Farah writes about immigration and radicalization in his latest novel 'North of Dawn,' which follows a Somali living in exile in Norway whose son chooses a dangerously extreme path.
by Steve Inskeep

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Elie Wiesel was a teacher above all else, says book author

Elie Wiesel was a teacher above all else, says book author

Most of the world knows Elie Wiesel as a Holocaust survivor, a human rights activist, a confidant of presidents and prime ministers, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. But Wiesel always saw himself as a teacher, says Wiesel's former teaching assistant who penned a new book based on those teachings.
by Heather McElhatton

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