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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. 

Punk legend Viv Albertine on a lifetime of fighting the patriarchy

Punk legend Viv Albertine on a lifetime of fighting the patriarchy

"What we conjured up ... was that we weren't going to try and be this constructed ideal of femininity," Viv Albertine says of her band's approach. She recently released a memoir, "To Throw Away Unopened."
by Terry Gross

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Russia -- and grandma -- defy expectations in 'A Terrible Country'

Russia -- and grandma -- defy expectations in 'A Terrible Country'

When Andrei Kaplan returns to Moscow to care for his grandmother, he hopes to write an article based on her Soviet-era stories. But things don't go according to plan in this new novel by Keith Gessen.
by Renee Montagne

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'Give Me Your Hand' explores female mysteries and monstrosities

'Give Me Your Hand' explores female mysteries and monstrosities

Megan Abbott's new thriller is set partly in a scientific lab studying a severe form of PMS. Abbott says she's fascinated by "this sort of idea that the female body is monstrous."
by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

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'Buzz' offers an admiration for bees amid continued die-offs

'Buzz' offers an admiration for bees amid continued die-offs

The severity of the enormous reduction in bee numbers over the past decade is at the heart of a new book by conservation biologist Thor Hanson, whose appreciation for the pollinators shines through.
by Barbara J. King

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Historical fiction and magical realism meet in Alaska

Historical fiction and magical realism meet in Alaska

"There are just so many elements to this book that make it so satisfying and so delicious and so worth reading over and over again, that it's just ruined me," says bookseller Charlotte Glover.
by Tracy Mumford

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Once militantly anti-abortion, evangelical minister now lives 'with regret'

Once militantly anti-abortion, evangelical minister now lives 'with regret'

After decades working to block access to clinics, the Rev. Rob Schenck says he had a change of heart and sees abortion as an issue that should be resolved by "an individual and his or her conscience."
by Terry Gross

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Tommy Orange on the lives of urban Native Americans

Tommy Orange on the lives of urban Native Americans

Tommy Orange's debut novel is a "must-read of the summer," according to MPR News host Kerri Miller. She spoke to Orange about why he chose to write about urban Native Americans.
by Kerri Miller and Suzanne Pekow

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'The Fall of Wisconsin' puts the state's 2016 presidential choice in context

'The Fall of Wisconsin' puts the state's 2016 presidential choice in context

In 2016, Wisconsin picked a Republican for president for the first time since 1984. In his new book, Dan Kaufman, who grew up in the state, tries to show the vote for Trump was part of a larger story.
by Ron Elving

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Floating prison drones equal menace in 'The Furnace'

Floating prison drones equal menace in 'The Furnace'

Prentis Rollins' new graphic novel is set in a near future where the government uses drone-powered mobile invisibility fields to control its prisoners, keeping them out of sight and incommunicado.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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'The Last Cruise' is a bit more than a 3-hour tour

'The Last Cruise' is a bit more than a 3-hour tour

Kate Christensen's new novel follows a group of people on a vintage-themed cruise -- think cabaret, cocktails and no internet -- who are thrown together unexpectedly when things go wrong on board.
by Michael Schaub

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