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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 thriller for those who loved 'Clueless' and 'Mean Girls'

A thriller for those who loved 'Clueless' and 'Mean Girls'

Bookstore owner Jonathan Sanchez recommends "The Takedown," by Corrie Wang. It's set in a near-future, tech-obsessed Brooklyn, where privacy is a thing of the past.
by Tracy Mumford

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#ThanksForTyping spotlights unnamed women in literary acknowledgments

#ThanksForTyping spotlights unnamed women in literary acknowledgments

A professor shared book acknowledgment pages, where men thanked their wives for typing their manuscripts. #ThanksForTyping soon sparked a conversation on women and their uncredited roles in academia.
by Cecilia Mazanec

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Where Bob Dylan was while keeping silent about his Nobel Prize

Where Bob Dylan was while keeping silent about his Nobel Prize

Dylan received criticism last fall after greeting the announcement of his Nobel Prize for Literature with silence. It turns out he was just busy revisiting his artistic development.
by Andrew Flanagan

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Author: How the Mall of America could become 'as toxic and uninhabitable as Chernobyl'

Author: How the Mall of America could become 'as toxic and uninhabitable as Chernobyl'

In his new book, "Deadliest Enemy," epidemiologist Michael Osterholm argues that we are more vulnerable to an infectious disease outbreak now than at any other time in history.
by Tom Weber and MPR News Staff

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Bob Dylan to receive his Nobel Prize this weekend

Bob Dylan to receive his Nobel Prize this weekend

Dylan declined an invitation last year to the traditional Nobel Prize banquet and ceremony on Dec. 10, pleading other commitments.
by The Associated Press

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Behind the new literary genre: Cli-fi

Behind the new literary genre: Cli-fi

Cli-fi, or climate fiction, is a growing genre of speculative novels that imagine the consequences of climate change.
by Tracy Mumford

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'Girl in Disguise' is a spunky spy saga

'Girl in Disguise' is a spunky spy saga

Little is known about the real life of Kate Warne, the first female detective in America, but Greer Macallister's romp of a novel paints her as a live wire, an ace in a dangerous man's world.
by Jean Zimmerman

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David Grann on the brutal crime America forgot

David Grann on the brutal crime America forgot

David Grann's new book, "Killers of the Flower Moon," tells the true story of the Osage Indian nation. Once the wealthiest people in the world, by the early 1920s, they were being killed off one by one.
by Tracy Mumford

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How for-profit colleges sell 'risky education' to the most vulnerable

How for-profit colleges sell 'risky education' to the most vulnerable

Tressie McMillan Cottom worked in enrollment at two for-profit colleges, but quit because she felt uncomfortable selling students an education they couldn't afford. Her new book is "Lower Ed."

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107-year-old northern Minn. woman leaves behind stories of moonshine, priests

107-year-old northern Minn. woman leaves behind stories of moonshine, priests

Elsye McGuire's early life reads like "Little House on the Prairie" -- if it were written for adults, and Pa ran an illegal moonshine still in the swamp behind his house.
by John Enger

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