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. 

Understated and over-frank, 'French Exit' is just the right amount of funny
Patrick DeWitt's new novel is a sparkling dark comedy about an Upper East Side society matron and her large adult son (and their cat) who take off for Paris to escape financial and social ruin.
'Ohio' is a wild, angry, devastating debut
Stephen Markley's novel follows four friends, each with their own baggage, who return to their home town on the same night, but for different reasons -- leading to an explosive moment of violence.
The connections between sci-fi and David Bowie
Critic and author Jason Heller's new book traces the considerable influence of David Bowie on the science-fiction inflected music of the 1970s, from "Space Oddity" to the glittery glory of Funkadelic.
After 150 years, 'Little Women' still resonates
In "Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy," Anne Boyd Rioux describes how the sisterly bond of the March girls that Louisa May Alcott created many years ago remains a paragon of female friendship and inspiration.