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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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Sign up for The Thread newsletter to get reading recommendations from Kerri Miller and other bookworms around the MPR newsroom. Sam Stroozas rounds up local events and Minnesota book news you may have missed.

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where host Emily Bright 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 and produced by Kelly Gordon every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

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.

'This Body' is packed with personality -- maybe too much

'This Body' is packed with personality -- maybe too much

Edgar Cantero's madcap new novel stars a brother-and-sister pair of private eyes with wildly differing personalities -- who just happen to share the same body. (There's an explanation. Sort of.)
by Jason Sheehan

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A look at the history of Canada's residential schools

A look at the history of Canada's residential schools

Bookseller Mara Panich-Crouch recommends a novel about the experiences of an Ojibwe boy caught in Canada's residential school system.
by Tracy Mumford

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Yabbadabba-what? These aren't the Flintstones you remember

Yabbadabba-what? These aren't the Flintstones you remember

When you say "The Flintstones," most people think of the old Hanna Barbera cartoons. But a new comic book adaptation keeps the humor, and tackles some heavy themes like capitalism and human frailty.
by Mallory Yu

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Scientists are 'Spying on Whales' to learn how they eat, talk and ... walked?

Scientists are 'Spying on Whales' to learn how they eat, talk and ... walked?

Paleobiologist Nick Pyenson is dedicated to uncovering the "hidden lives" of whales. Forty to 50 million years ago, he says, whales had four legs and lived at least part of their lives on land.
by Dave Davies

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'The Third Hotel' will get under your skin

'The Third Hotel' will get under your skin

Laura Van Den Berg's new novel follows a woman who runs into her ostensibly-dead husband at a Cuban film festival. It operates in symbols and layers, leaving readers disoriented, but fascinated.
by Lily Meyer

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Why it's still OK to 'trash' poor white people

Why it's still OK to 'trash' poor white people

A lot has changed in the U.S. over two centuries. One thing that hasn't? How we talk about poor white people.
by Leah Donnella

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'The Incendiaries' is a poignant and powerful look at campus life

'The Incendiaries' is a poignant and powerful look at campus life

R.O. Kwon's new novel explores the attractions -- and dangers -- of faith, against the overheated, over-the-top backdrop of an upper-crust college somewhere in the Northeastern United State.
by Maureen Corrigan

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Cartoonist Thi Bui weaves together personal and political history

Cartoonist Thi Bui weaves together personal and political history

Thi Bui's Eisner Award-nominated graphic memoir "The Best We Could Do" chronicles her family's struggles in fleeing war-torn Vietnam to immigrate to the United States.
by Mallory Yu

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Scientists are 'Spying on Whales' to learn how they eat, talk and ... walked?

Scientists are 'Spying on Whales' to learn how they eat, talk and ... walked?

Paleobiologist Nick Pyenson is dedicated to uncovering the "hidden lives" of whales. He says that 40 million to 50 million years ago, they had four legs and lived at least part of their lives on land.
by Dave Davies

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