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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.

Poet Rupi Kaur: 'Art should be accessible to the masses'

Poet Rupi Kaur: 'Art should be accessible to the masses'

Rupi Kaur came to Canada from India when she was four years old and didn't learn English well for years; she says her raw, minimalist poems are tailored for readers like her, with limited English.
by Rachel Martin and Alyssa Edes

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In 1960s New York, witchy women learn 'The Rules of Magic'

In 1960s New York, witchy women learn 'The Rules of Magic'

In Alice Hoffman's prequel to "Practical Magic," two sisters uncover their family's supernatural gifts and curses while growing up in the city.
by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

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A 'hypnotic,' 'pointillistic' novel

A 'hypnotic,' 'pointillistic' novel

David Enyeart recommends a new novel by British writer Jon McGregor: "He's not very well known in this country yet, but I think he certainly will be."
by Tracy Mumford

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You're going to hate 'TheMystery.doc,' and that's OK

You're going to hate 'TheMystery.doc,' and that's OK

Matthew McIntosh's fractured and fracturing 1,600-page tale of a writer with amnesia and a missing manuscript isn't fun, and it probably isn't supposed to be. But it is magnificently weird.
by Jason Sheehan

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'Unkindness Of Ghosts' transposes the plantation's cruelty to the stars

'Unkindness Of Ghosts' transposes the plantation's cruelty to the stars

Rivers Solomon's novel is set on a giant generation ship, on an interstellar voyage of centuries, divided between the wealthy, light-skinned upper-deckers and the oppressed, laboring lower-deckers.
by Amal El-Mohtar

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Dr. Seuss museum to replace mural after complaints of racism

Three authors said they would boycott an event at the Massachusetts museum due to the "jarring racial stereotype" of a Chinese character from one of his books.
by The Associated Press

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Thread Book Hour: Jacqueline Woodson 'Talking Volumes'

Thread Book Hour: Jacqueline Woodson 'Talking Volumes'

A conversation with Jacqueline Woodson, author of "Another Brooklyn" and "Brown Girl Dreaming."
by MPR News Staff

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Seven of the most haunted houses in literature

Seven of the most haunted houses in literature

What's your favorite haunted house in fiction? Where would you never spend the night? The Thread looks at some of the most nightmarish literary locales.
by Tracy Mumford

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Kazuo Ishiguro wins Nobel Prize for Literature

Kazuo Ishiguro wins Nobel Prize for Literature

The Swedish Academy cited him for "novels of great emotional force, (he) has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world."
by The Associated Press

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'Dunbar' is a moving, brutal and apt update of 'King Lear'

'Dunbar' is a moving, brutal and apt update of 'King Lear'

For centuries, Shakespeare's tragedy was too painful for audiences; it was performed with an altered happy ending. But Edward St. Aubyn has never flinched at inflicting pain on his readers.
by Annalisa Quinn

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