Stay Curious. Stay Connected.
MailNewsletters♡Donate Now

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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. 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.

In 'The Night Tiger,' fantastic beasts of colonial Malaysia

In 'The Night Tiger,' fantastic beasts of colonial Malaysia

Yangsze Choo's second novel features a disembodied finger, Chinese dancehalls of the 1930s and weretigers. For the author, it's a book of parallel worlds: the supernatural and the real.

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Reader suggestions: Books we should teach in schools

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.
by Sara Porter

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
'Black Leopard, Red Wolf' is a beast of a book

'Black Leopard, Red Wolf' is a beast of a book

Our critic likens reading Marlon James' new epic fantasy to being slowly eaten by a bear that occasionally cracks jokes -- painful and strange, but upsettingly beautiful for all that.
by Amal El-Mohtar

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
'Brave, Not Perfect' speaks to the scarcity of women in tech

'Brave, Not Perfect' speaks to the scarcity of women in tech

In a new book, Reshma Saujani of Girls Who Code joins a chorus of voices warning of devastating consequences if girls don't partake in tech -- and suggesting girls should be encouraged to take risks.
by Jasmine Garsd

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
In 'Spirit of Science Fiction,' seeds of a great career

In 'Spirit of Science Fiction,' seeds of a great career

Roberto Bolano's early novel, about the adventures of two young Chilean writers fleeing the Pinochet dictatorship, reads like a dress rehearsal for his masterwork "The Savage Detectives."
by Lily Meyer

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Grief conquers language -- almost -- in 'Where Reasons End'

Grief conquers language -- almost -- in 'Where Reasons End'

Yiyun Li wrote her devastating, brilliant new novel after the suicide of her son -- in it, the unnamed narrator confronts the same situation, holding an extended conversation with her own dead son.
by Michael Schaub

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
You'll find 12 fresh and unforgettable essays in 'Black is the Body'

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.
by Maureen Corrigan

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Dinner's swarming in the oven? Insects as a food source

Dinner's swarming in the oven? Insects as a food source

A locally-produced graphic novel aims to help us get over our bias against eating bugs.
by Euan Kerr

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!