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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. 

Tracy K. Smith named new U.S. poet laureate

Tracy K. Smith named new U.S. poet laureate

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet says she plans to use her new role to meet people who don't read poetry ... yet, anyway. She believes poetry can be a resource for people in fraught or isolating times.

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In new novel, 'Ove' author takes on hockey-town culture

In new novel, 'Ove' author takes on hockey-town culture

"Beartown" ponders "the things that we let successful people get away with, just because they are important to us."
by Euan Kerr

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Southern cooking: 'People of color didn't get the respect they earned'

Southern cooking: 'People of color didn't get the respect they earned'

In his new book, John T. Edge writes that food plays a central role in Southern identity, but African-American and immigrant cooks have often been left out of the stories the South tells about itself.
by Maria Godoy

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Prog rock gets some respect in 'The Show That Never Ends'

Prog rock gets some respect in 'The Show That Never Ends'

David Weigel is primarily a political reporter, but in "The Show that Never Ends" he spins his love of prog rock into a detailed, affectionate history of a genre that's never completely gone away.
by Jason Heller

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'Last Kid Left' is a summer read for people who hate the light

'Last Kid Left' is a summer read for people who hate the light

Rosecrans Baldwin's new novel probably shouldn't have come out in summer: It's got the trappings of a beach read -- a shore town, tourists, a murder -- but it strays into some very dark territory.
by Jason Sheehan

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What makes a good whodunit? 'Magpie Murders' author spells it out

What makes a good whodunit? 'Magpie Murders' author spells it out

Anthony Horowitz's latest novel is a whodunit about whodunits. He says, "I wanted it to be ... a sort of a treatise on the whole genre of murder mystery writing."
by Lynn Neary

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For one Saudi woman, 'Daring To Drive' was an act of civil disobedience

For one Saudi woman, 'Daring To Drive' was an act of civil disobedience

In 2011, Manal al-Sharif filming herself driving in a country where women are banned from getting behind the wheel. Driving, she says, is "a way to emancipate women. It gives them so much liberty."
by Terry Gross

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The stories behind twelve different bullet wounds

The stories behind twelve different bullet wounds

In 'The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley,' a father reveals his secrets to his daughter, one scar at a time.
by Tracy Mumford

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'Stephen Florida' goes to the mat -- and wins

'Stephen Florida' goes to the mat -- and wins

Gabe Habash's audacious coming-of-age novel follows a charismatic, troubled, sometimes repellent college wrestler who comes close to the edge of madness after an injury derails his final season.
by Michael Schaub

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