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 quintessential Southern novel for teens
Jen Doll's new novel follows a group of misfit kids working at Alabama's legendary Unclaimed Baggage store, a place where all kinds of lost things (and people, and one purple leopard suitcase) end up.
In 'Waiting for Eden,' grief with no guarantee of closure
Author Elliot Ackerman is a veteran, and his latest novel is about an injured soldier just regaining consciousness. But it's really about something else. "This book really isn't about war," he says.
How a rising star of white nationalism broke free from the movement
Derek Black once promoted a racist agenda by making speeches, hosting a radio show and starting a website. His change of heart is the subject of a new book, written by journalist Eli Saslow.
Secrets of a teenage WWII spy in 'Transcription'
The young protagonist of Kate Atkinson's latest historical novel finds herself working for British intelligence during the war -- and suddenly confronting that experience years later.
How the Myers-Briggs personality test began in a living room laboratory
"The language of type can be immensely clarifying," says author Merve Emre. In The Personality Brokers she describes how a mother-daughter duo started a multi-million dollar "people sorting" industry.