The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR 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.

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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. 

Tickets are now available for our 26th season. Join award-winning journalist and MPR News host Kerri Miller (and special guest host Catharine Richart) as they talk with authors including Stacey Abrams, Patricia Lockwood, Misty Copeland, John Grisham, and Kate Baer. 

Tom Hanks and Matthew Weiner cross over into the world of fiction
The actor and the "Mad Men" creator each recently published a book: Hanks' "Uncommon Type" is a short story collection and Weiner's "Heather, The Totality" is a novella about two upper-class New Yorkers.
In 'Long Way Down,' the ghosts of gun violence chill a plan for revenge
Jason Reynolds' new book follows a 15-year-old who must make a crucial decision after the murder of his brother, all in the time it takes for an elevator to travel 60 seconds to the ground floor.
These 'Paperbacks from Hell' reflect the real-life angst of the 1970s
Author Grady Hendrix's new book is a celebration of the lurid horror paperbacks of the 1970s, books that gave already frightened readers an endless supply of things to fear, from jellyfish to clowns.
'I Can't Breathe' examines modern policing and the life and death of Eric Garner
"The reality is that Eric Garner died at the hands of a police force and a criminal justice system that were designed entirely by white people, for the most part," says journalist Matt Taibbi.