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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.

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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. 

'Florida,' 'Heartland' among National Book Awards finalists

'Florida,' 'Heartland' among National Book Awards finalists

'This year, instead of just celebrating the best American literature, we're celebrating the best literature in America,' said Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation.
by Sasha Ingber

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Light and dark, characters shine in 'Blanca & Roja'

Light and dark, characters shine in 'Blanca & Roja'

Anna-Marie McLemore braids old bits of myth about swans and cursed sisters into a new, more inward-looking story that lets readers see just how hard it is to be a character in a fairy tale.
by Caitlyn Paxson

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'The Reckonings' examines what it means to have justice

'The Reckonings' examines what it means to have justice

Writing about topics as diverse as race, sexual assault, Hurricane Harvey, and art history, Lacy M. Johnson's essays are together a philosophy in disguise -- equal parts memoir, criticism and ethics.
by Lily Meyer

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'Infidel' uses the supernatural to explore racism's real life horrors

'Infidel' uses the supernatural to explore racism's real life horrors

The new comic series from creators Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell follows a young Muslim-American woman living in an apartment building haunted by evil entities that feed on racist hate.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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'Presidents of War' sounds the alarm about presidential power

'Presidents of War' sounds the alarm about presidential power

In his new book, Michael Beschloss focuses on the lead up to war. But a more pressing danger and indictment of presidential power may be the interventions not authorized by Congress.
by Terri Bimes

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'False Calm' acts as a record of real life in Patagonia

'False Calm' acts as a record of real life in Patagonia

Argentine writer Maria Sonia Cristoff wants to be honest: She won't shape her subjects' narratives or take control of another person's story. This is both the book's great strength and great weakness.
by Lily Meyer

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'Once and Forever' turns familiar fairy-tale ideas upside down

'Once and Forever' turns familiar fairy-tale ideas upside down

Kenji Miyazawa is a beloved author in Japan; this book -- a reissue of a 1993 story collection -- balances chaos and kindness, natural and supernatural to build a world in which anything might happen.
by Genevieve Valentine

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How a 19th century chemist took on the food industry with a grisly experiment

Deborah Blum's book, 'The Poison Squad,' tells how Harvey Washington Wiley and his band of chemists crusaded to remove toxins, such as arsenic and borax, from food. How? By testing them on volunteers.
by Ari Shapiro

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'Infidel' uses the supernatural to explore racism's real life horrors

'Infidel' uses the supernatural to explore racism's real life horrors

The new comic series from creators Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell follows a young Muslim-American woman living in an apartment building haunted by evil entities that feed on racist hate.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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