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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.

Violence leaves a lasting scar in 'I Didn't Talk'

Violence leaves a lasting scar in 'I Didn't Talk'

Brazilian author Beatriz Bracher's new novel -- her first to be published in English -- follows a professor who, years later, is still haunted by his arrest and torture during Brazil's dictatorship.
by Michael Schaub

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A thwarted child kidnapping inspired 'Fruit of the Drunken Tree'

A thwarted child kidnapping inspired 'Fruit of the Drunken Tree'

Growing up amid widespread violence in Colombia, Ingrid Rojas Contreras and her sister were targeted for kidnapping. They were saved by the courage and compassion of a teenager working in their home.

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An aging Philip Marlowe returns in 'Only to Sleep'

An aging Philip Marlowe returns in 'Only to Sleep'

Lawrence Osborne's new Marlowe novel brings us a version of the gumshoe in his 70s, lonely and slow, looking into another mysterious death. It's a book that seems simple, but hides cavernous depths.
by Jason Sheehan

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Parker Posey writes her own myth in 'You're on an Airplane'

Parker Posey writes her own myth in 'You're on an Airplane'

This "self-mythologizing memoir," which Parker Posey pronounces "me-moir," is written as if it's a monologue to an airplane seatmate, full of collages, cocktail recipes and stories from her life and career.
by Ari Shapiro

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'Hits and Misses' doesn't miss a beat

'Hits and Misses' doesn't miss a beat

Simon Rich's new collection welcomes readers to his sweet but twisted world, with laugh-out-loud stories about everything from a competitively ascetic monk to a baby writer born in tweed and glasses.
by Michael Schaub

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What it's like to be held hostage by Somali pirates for 2 1/2 years

What it's like to be held hostage by Somali pirates for 2 1/2 years

Journalist Michael Scott Moore went to East Africa to write about piracy. Then he got kidnapped and imprisoned for 977 days. The "Desert and the Sea" chronicles his incredible ordeal.
by Ari Shapiro

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Talking Volumes 2018 season

Talking Volumes 2018 season

The 2018 season will feature interviews with Dessa, Leif Enger, Rebecca Traister, Sally Field and Alexander McCall Smith.
by MPR News Staff

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Beowulf in the suburbs? 'The Mere Wife' is an epic retelling

Beowulf in the suburbs? 'The Mere Wife' is an epic retelling

For too long the Old English poem has long been perceived as a "masculine text," says Maria Dahvana Headley. Her new adaptation is told from the perspective of Grendel's mother.
by Korva Coleman

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