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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.

A dancer is unstrung by grief in 'Isadora'

A dancer is unstrung by grief in 'Isadora'

The great American dancer Isadora Duncan led a tragic life. Her worst year -- just after the deaths of her first two children in an accident, forms the core of Amelia Gray's powerful new novel.
by Michael Schaub

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The power of music is at the heart of 'Black Mad Wheel'

The power of music is at the heart of 'Black Mad Wheel'

Detroit garage-rocker Josh Malerman's second novel follows a fictional 1950s rock bad recruited by the government to find the source of a mysterious, ominous sound emanating from the Namib Desert.
by Jason Heller

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Second thoughts about a second marriage in 'Standard Deviation'

Second thoughts about a second marriage in 'Standard Deviation'

A husband and wife are complete opposites. She's charming and effusive, he's a buttoned-down man of routine. Katherine Heiny tells NPR's Scott Simon about her first novel, 'Standard Deviation.'
by Heller McAlpin

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In 'Margot Sanchez,' a teen grows up and learns to love the Bronx

In 'Margot Sanchez,' a teen grows up and learns to love the Bronx

Instead of going to the beach with her prep school friends, Margot is stuck working at her father's supermarket in the Bronx. Lilliam Rivera says her YA novel was inspired by her own Bronx childhood.
by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

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In 'A King's Obsession,' Anne Boleyn's true love is power

In 'A King's Obsession,' Anne Boleyn's true love is power

Alison Weir takes a fresh look at familiar territory in this retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Weir's version of Anne is fiercely smart and guilty only of craving power that was hers by right.
by Jean Zimmerman

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We have always been bored -- 'Yawn' wonders why

We have always been bored -- 'Yawn' wonders why

Mary Mann's new book digs into a phenomenon as old as humanity: boredom. Why do we get bored? Is there a cure? 'Yawn' is a thoughtful read, but its mix of autobiography and scholarship doesn't jell.
by Genevieve Valentine

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Leaving high school behind for a dangerous life in 'A Good Country'

Leaving high school behind for a dangerous life in 'A Good Country'

Laleh Khadivi's new novel traces the path of a young Muslim man in California, the son of strict Iranian immigrant parents, from his first bong hit at age 14 to his eventual radicalization.

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Grocery stores: 'The best of America and the worst of America'

Grocery stores: 'The best of America and the worst of America'

In his new book, Michael Ruhlman explores how and why Americans have changed from corner-store customers to insatiable consumers of every edible product at our fingertips.
by Laurel Dalrymple

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