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The Thread® - Books and Literary 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. 

Here are the winners of the 2018 Kirkus Prizes

Here are the winners of the 2018 Kirkus Prizes

Ling Ma's debut, 'Severance,' won for fiction. 'Crown' earned Derrick Barnes and Gordon James the young readers' prize. And Rebecca Solnit's essays, 'Call Them by Their True Names,' won nonfiction laurels.
by Colin Dwyer

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Poet Tony Hoagland dies at 64

Poet Tony Hoagland dies at 64

Hoagland, known for his barbed wit, was published by Graywolf Press in Minneapolis.
by Marianne Combs

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'Mockingbird' chosen as America's best-loved novel in vote

'Mockingbird' chosen as America's best-loved novel in vote

The other top-five finishers in order of votes were Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series about a time-spanning love; J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" boy wizard tales; Jane Austen's romance "Pride and Prejudice"; and J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" fantasy saga.
by The Associated Press

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Getting too old for Narnia in 'Light Between Worlds'

Getting too old for Narnia in 'Light Between Worlds'

Laura Weymouth's new novel follows two sisters struggling with the aftermath of their adventures in a magic land. That struggle is the vivid heart of the book, but its Narnia-lite doesn't quite work.
by Caitlyn Paxson

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'Travelling Cat' chronicles friendship, loss and life on the road

'Travelling Cat' chronicles friendship, loss and life on the road

You don't have to be a cat lover to enjoy Hiro Arikawa's novel about a man and his cat, traveling across Japan to visit old friends. And you may find yourself tearing up by the end.
by Ilana Masad

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'Glimmer of Hope' provides a blueprint for launching social change

'Glimmer of Hope' provides a blueprint for launching social change

With a new collection of essays, the 25 founders of March For Our Lives return the subject of the Parkland shooting and gun violence to national consciousness just in time for midterms elections.
by Aubri Juhasz

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Fierce, spiky 'Friday Black' packs a big punch

Fierce, spiky 'Friday Black' packs a big punch

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's intellectually hefty debut works through ideas about racism, about classism and capitalism, about the apocalypse, and, most of all, about the corrosive power of belief.
by Lily Meyer

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The Beastie Boys on their hip-hop journey and missing Adam Yauch

The Beastie Boys on their hip-hop journey and missing Adam Yauch

Adam Horovitz (aka Ad-Rock) and Mike Diamond (Mike D) of the hip-hop group Beastie Boys talk about their new book, which is largely a love letter to their late band mate, Adam 'MCA' Yauch. Plus they reflect on growing up in 1980s New York City and how they gained respect in hip-hop.

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Futuristic dreams turn to nightmare in 'Electric State'

Futuristic dreams turn to nightmare in 'Electric State'

In his latest book, Swedish artist Simon Stalenhag uses his ghostly photorealism to create an alternate America overcome by an addiction to technology, by drought, by war and loss and loneliness.
by Jason Sheehan

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