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. 

'Tell Me How It Ends' offers a moving, humane portrait of child migrants
Valeria Luiselli's new book is based on her experiences working as an interpreter for Central American child migrants seeking entry to the U.S. Critic John Powers calls it "fair minded and expansive."
Wild Rumpus named best bookstore of the year
The Minneapolis children's bookstore is stocked with more than 34,000 titles, as well as a chicken, three cats, one ferret, two doves, two chinchillas... The list goes on.
'Hemingway didn't say that' (and neither did Twain or Kafka)
There are tons of quotes from famous people out there -- and a lot of them are just plain wrong. Author Garson O'Toole has dedicated himself to setting the record straight.
'Foxlowe' is a delicious slice of darkness
Eleanor Wasserberg's debut novel is not for the faint of heart: This tale of a cultishly evil group called the Family who live in a mansion on the English moors is unrelentingly cruel and eerie.
Mayte Garcia knew she would marry Prince, but could never have predicted how
In her new book, "The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince," Garcia explains how an unlikely meeting at one of the pop icon's concerts sparked a relationship full of love, surprises and, ultimately, heartbreak.