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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.

Boris Fishman's 'Savage Feast' is part memoir, part cookbook

Boris Fishman's 'Savage Feast' is part memoir, part cookbook

Fishman's family came to the United States from Belarus in 1988; he writes that the hunger, terror and loss of World War II still shapes their attitudes towards food even after seven decades.
by David Greene

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What Shakespeare teaches us about tyrants

What Shakespeare teaches us about tyrants

Chris Upton offers an interesting spin on politics with his recommendation of 'Tyrant' by Stephen Greenblatt.
by Tracy Mumford

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Opera version of DiCamillo's 'Edward Tulane' set for 2020

Composer Paola Prestini says the work should have wide appeal. The opera has been in development over the last two years.
by Euan Kerr

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Stories converge in a flooded 'Bangkok'

Stories converge in a flooded 'Bangkok'

Pitchaya Sudbanthad's novel follows a broad cast of characters who gradually come together in and around a condominium tower in Bangkok. It's a promising debut that expertly evokes a sense of place.
by Michael Schaub

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'Tram Car 015' is a delightful ride

'Tram Car 015' is a delightful ride

P. Djeli Clark's novella about about two supernatural investigators on the trail of a malign spirit in a magical alternate Cairo packs wonderful characters into a thoughtfully-built world.
by Amal El-Mohtar

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A chance meeting changes lie in Sophie Kinsella's latest

A chance meeting changes lie in Sophie Kinsella's latest

The author of the bestselling Shopaholic series is back, with a new novel about a woman who's addicted not to shopping but to fixing the lives of the people around her -- at the expense of her own.
by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

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In 'The City in the Middle of the Night,' big ideas lead to big upheavals

In 'The City in the Middle of the Night,' big ideas lead to big upheavals

Charlie Jane Anders' new novel, set on an inhospitable alien planet, is about rebels, smugglers and lobster-like monsters, but also about how grand political ideas break down -- and who that hurts.
by Jason Sheehan

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