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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. 

A mother and daughter upset suburban status quo in 'Little Fires Everywhere'

A mother and daughter upset suburban status quo in 'Little Fires Everywhere'

Novelist Celeste Ng knows Shaker Heights, Ohio well. Writing about your own hometown is "like writing about a relative," she says. "You love them dearly, and yet you also know all of their quirks."

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How 'American Assassin' took a long, twisting path to film

How 'American Assassin' took a long, twisting path to film

A movie featuring the indomitable fictional terrorism fighter Mitch Rapp is about to hit movie screens nationwide -- four years after his creator, author Vince Flynn, died from prostate cancer.
by Jeff Baenen, Associated Press

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'Young people who do extraordinary things' are the norm in Marie Lu's YA world

'Young people who do extraordinary things' are the norm in Marie Lu's YA world

The bestselling young adult author specializes in dystopian fiction. Her latest, 'Warcross,' is set in the not-too-distant future, and draws on Lu's time working in the video game industry.
by Mandalit del Barco

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'Falling and Flying' makes for a hypnotic read

'Falling and Flying' makes for a hypnotic read

Ben Loory's new story collection is dreamlike in the best way: both cheerfully surreal and cosmically unsettling, full of lovelorn cephalopods, discontented sloths and the occasional darker touch.
by Michael Schaub

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Art Hounds: New children's books by Minnesota authors

Art Hounds: New children's books by Minnesota authors

Four new children's and YA books are being promoted in local bookstores this weekend. Plus, the Art Hounds recommend a show about the legacy of Indian boarding schools, and "Dancing on the Edge."
by Marianne Combs

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Leaving the past behind -- or trying to -- in Rushdie's latest

Leaving the past behind -- or trying to -- in Rushdie's latest

Salman Rushdie's 'The Golden House' explores the idea of reinvention in America, through an Indian family whose shady patriarch may not be able to escape his past, despite fleeing across the Atlantic.
by Ari Shapiro

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A black food historian explores his bittersweet connection to Robert E. Lee

A black food historian explores his bittersweet connection to Robert E. Lee

Michael Twitty's enslaved ancestors witnessed the Confederate general's surrender, the significance of which weaves through his new memoir as he seeks 'culinary justice' for African Americans.
by Nina Martyris

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In 'A Legacy of Spies,' John le Carre goes back out in 'The Cold'

In 'A Legacy of Spies,' John le Carre goes back out in 'The Cold'

Former CIA operative Valerie Plame says pop culture doesn't usually get espionage right -- but le Carre comes close. His new novel is a kind of prequel to 1963's 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.'
by Lynn Neary

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A D.C. sex scandal, through female eyes

A D.C. sex scandal, through female eyes

In her novel "Young Jane Young," Gabrielle Zevin explores the way stories change with the perspective of the listener.
by Euan Kerr

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