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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.

'The Recovering' chronicles addiction

'The Recovering' chronicles addiction

Author Leslie Jamison's new memoir of her years of alcoholism walks in the paths of drunken icons like Raymond Carver and John Cheever, describing the effects of intoxicants with gorgeous, exact care.
by Annalisa Quinn

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Poetry Friday: Take a (line) break

Poetry Friday: Take a (line) break

To celebrate National Poetry Month, The Thread is showcasing three poems every Friday from local independent publishing houses.
by Tracy Mumford

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'The Chandelier' is a stop-motion, shaggy dog masterpiece

'The Chandelier' is a stop-motion, shaggy dog masterpiece

Brazilian modernist Clarice Lispector's second novel, written when she was 26, is an essentially story-free story, fragmentary and obsessed with the nature of thought -- but it will carry you away.
by Lily Meyer

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From B-Boys to X-Men: Alt-comics' Ed Piskor goes mainstream

From B-Boys to X-Men: Alt-comics' Ed Piskor goes mainstream

Cartoonist Ed Piskor is best known for his award-winning "Hip Hop Family Tree" series, and for working with alt-comics legend Harvey Pekar. So how did he get Marvel to give him a shot at the X-Men?
by Etelka Lehoczky

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An 'Exhausted' Martin Luther King Jr.'s final 31 hours

An 'Exhausted' Martin Luther King Jr.'s final 31 hours

A bomb threat, a march turned violent and a militant black power group all weighed heavily on the civil rights leader during his last speech in 1968, says "Redemption" author Joseph Rosenbloom.
by Noel King and Jeffrey Pierre

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'Two Sisters' leave home for Syria, tearing a family apart

'Two Sisters' leave home for Syria, tearing a family apart

Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad's new book is a heartbreaking but necessary account of two teenage sisters from a moderate Muslim family who fled to war-torn Syria after becoming radicalized.
by Michael Schaub

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Love (and music and glitter) saves the day in 'Space Opera'

Love (and music and glitter) saves the day in 'Space Opera'

In Catherynne M. Valente's new novel, a washed-up glitter punk musician has to save all humanity by singing in an intergalactic version of the Eurovision Song Contest. (Also, there are murderhippos.)
by Jason Sheehan

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Madeleine Albright warns: Don't let fascism go 'unnoticed until it's too late'

Madeleine Albright warns: Don't let fascism go 'unnoticed until it's too late'

The former secretary of state describes President Trump as "the most anti-democratic leader that I have studied in American history." Albright's new book is "Fascism: A Warning."
by Terry Gross

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