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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.

George Saunders wins Man Booker prize for 'Lincoln in the Bardo'

George Saunders wins Man Booker prize for 'Lincoln in the Bardo'

It's the second year in a row that an American writer has taken home the prestigious literary award.

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A mortician travels the world to 'find the good death'

A mortician travels the world to 'find the good death'

Caitlin Doughty, whose Los Angeles funeral home specializes in alternative ceremonies, traveled the world to collect stories about how different peoples send loved ones off to the great beyond.
by Renee Montagne and Samantha Balaban

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'Quackery' chronicles our love of miracle cures -- and how it leads us astray

'Quackery' chronicles our love of miracle cures -- and how it leads us astray

Tobacco enemas? Mercury pills? Ice pick lobotomies? A new book explains how throughout history, miracle "cures" often didn't just fail to improve people's health, they maimed and killed.
by April Fulton

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Sleep scientist warns against walking through 'in an underslept state'

Sleep scientist warns against walking through 'in an underslept state'

"Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain," says sleep scientist Matthew Walker. His new book is "Why We Sleep."
by Terry Gross

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Tom Hanks is obsessed with typewriters (so he wrote a book about them)

Tom Hanks is obsessed with typewriters (so he wrote a book about them)

The actor's new collection of short fiction -- his debut book as an author -- is called "Uncommon Type," and each story has something to do with the machine close to his heart.
by David Greene

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Aspen Ideas Festival: The creative genius of Leonardo da Vinci

Aspen Ideas Festival: The creative genius of Leonardo da Vinci

Best-selling biographer Walter Isaacson has written a new book about a man who he says takes the cake as the "world's most creative genius": Leonardo da Vinci. He says "we can't be Newton. We can't be Einstein. But we can try to be more like Leonardo."
by MPR News Staff

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'Lady Killers:' Cherchez la femme fatale

'Lady Killers:' Cherchez la femme fatale

An FBI investigator once famously said "There are no female serial killers," but Tori Telfer sets out to prove him wrong with this gruesome new account of multiply-murderous women throughout history.
by Jean Zimmerman

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Exclusive first read: Philip Pullman's 'The Book Of Dust'

Exclusive first read: Philip Pullman's 'The Book Of Dust'

Philip Pullman returns to the world of his beloved Dark Materials trilogy in "The Book of Dust." We have an exclusive first peek at young protagonist Malcolm, his canoe, and the day his life changes.
by Petra Mayer

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