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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. 

The string quartet as chosen family in 'The Ensemble'

The string quartet as chosen family in 'The Ensemble'

In her debut novel, former cellist Aja Gabel follows four musicians as they come together and entertain ambitions to strike out on their own -- on and off stage.

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'A good, old-fashioned page turner' from Jennifer Egan

'A good, old-fashioned page turner' from Jennifer Egan

Bookseller Linda Kass says you "always learn something in a Jennifer Egan novel." In Egan's latest, the subjects range from searching for bodies underwater to running a nightclub.
by Tracy Mumford

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'A Shout in the Ruins' probes the lasting infections of war and slavery

'A Shout in the Ruins' probes the lasting infections of war and slavery

Kevin Powers' bleak, stunning new book is set in both the 1950s and the Civil War era. It's an intricately plotted look at the ways violence can shape a nation in ways that may not be recoverable.
by Michael Schaub

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'Reluctant Psychonaut' Michael Pollan embraces the 'new science' of psychedelics

'Reluctant Psychonaut' Michael Pollan embraces the 'new science' of psychedelics

Author Michael Pollan, who experimented with mushrooms, LSD and other psychedelics while researching his latest book, says: "I had an experience that was by turns frightening and ecstatic and weird."
by Terry Gross

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Tom Wolfe, best-selling author and genre-breaking journalist, dies at 88

Tom Wolfe, best-selling author and genre-breaking journalist, dies at 88

The author of "Bonfire of the Vanities" and "The Right Stuff" used to give himself a quota of 10 triple-spaced pages per day. He also experimented with literary techniques in his non-fiction.
by Tom Vitale

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Tom Wolfe: Writing nonfiction 'becomes a great game and a great experiment'

Tom Wolfe began experimenting with nonfiction writing techniques in the 1960s. The "new journalism" pioneer and best-selling author died Monday. He spoke with Fresh Air in 1987 and 2012.
by Terry Gross and Dave Davies

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'Empire at Sunset' provides a mesmerizing view of Jean Rhys

'Empire at Sunset' provides a mesmerizing view of Jean Rhys

Caryl Phillips' new novel, set in the waning years of the British Empire, follows the perpetually alienated Rhys from her birthplace in the West Indies to England and then the Continent.
by Heller McAlpin

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