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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.

David Sedaris on the life-altering and mundane pages of his old diaries

David Sedaris on the life-altering and mundane pages of his old diaries

Sedaris' "Theft by Finding" is a collection of excerpts from those diaries. In it, he revisits major turning points, like how he met his longtime boyfriend and his decision to stop drinking.
by Terry Gross

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'Dandy Lion' rejects young black male stereotypes

'Dandy Lion' rejects young black male stereotypes

"The Dandy Lion Project" focused on black men in cities around the world with an aesthetic that incorporates European and African influences. That project is now a book.
by The Associated Press

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'Beren and Luthien' reflects Tolkien's real life love story

'Beren and Luthien' reflects Tolkien's real life love story

J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher proves an able guide through "Beren and Luthien", his father's haunting tale of a mortal man who falls in love with the daughter of a disapproving Elven King.
by Liza Graham

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Indie bookstores hold steady in tough retail market

Indie bookstores hold steady in tough retail market

In recent years, independent stores have been helped by a variety of factors, from the fall of Borders and the struggles of Barnes & Noble to the leveling off of e-book sales.
by Associated Press

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In public understanding of science, alternative facts are the norm

In public understanding of science, alternative facts are the norm

If we are committed to combating "alternate facts" in science - as we should be - then we must also combat the alternative theories that license them, says guest blogger Andrew Shtulman.
by Andrew Shtulman

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Sen. Al Franken embraces 'The Funny' again in new book

Sen. Al Franken embraces 'The Funny' again in new book

The Minnesota Democrat recounts his journey from "Saturday Night Live" to the Senate -- and explains why comedy works in confirmation hearings: "Comedians kind of get to the point in an effective way."
by Scott Detrow

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Love, money and betrayal make for great storytelling in 'The Heirs'

Love, money and betrayal make for great storytelling in 'The Heirs'

Susan Rieger's new book follows an upper-crust, Upper West Side family whose certainties are thrown into doubt after their father dies and an unknown Other Woman sues his estate for child support.
by Jason Sheehan

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Remembering the great poet Gwendolyn Brooks at 100

Remembering the great poet Gwendolyn Brooks at 100

A new biography celebrates the life and legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who wrote about ordinary black life using extraordinary language.
by Karen Grigsby Bates

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A brilliant novel told through ten conversations

A brilliant novel told through ten conversations

"I think it's so disarming because it's so simple, and yet I kept re-reading 'Outline.' I kept going back to it and being spellbound by how brilliant it is," said bookseller Richard DeWyngaert.
by Tracy Mumford

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