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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. 

1A: Revisiting James Baldwin

1A: Revisiting James Baldwin

Author and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin's legacy has affected American consciousness for decades. What's behind the resurgence of his work?

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What's life like for immigrant kids? 2 teen novels paint a sober picture

What's life like for immigrant kids? 2 teen novels paint a sober picture

"The Radius of Us" is about a young asylum seeker from El Salvador, and "Something in Between" follows a high schooler who's devastated when learns she and her family are living in the U.S. illegally.
by Lynn Neary

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The books behind the Oscar nominees

The books behind the Oscar nominees

Four of this year's nine nominees for Best Picture take their inspiration from the bookshelf.
by Tracy Mumford

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How the U.S. war in Laos was key to the 'birth of a military CIA'

How the U.S. war in Laos was key to the 'birth of a military CIA'

A new book by Joshua Kurlantzick examines how the U.S. involvement in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s transformed the CIA from an intelligence-gathering organization into a war-fighting one
by Nishant Dahiya

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'Six Wakes' is a nerve-tingling interstellar murder mystery

'Six Wakes' is a nerve-tingling interstellar murder mystery

In Mur Lafferty's latest, six crewmembers wake up to horror on a malfunctioning spaceship -- the artificial gravity is gone, and blood floats in the air. It's up to them to find out what happened.
by Jason Heller

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Minnesota Book Awards finalists announced

Minnesota Book Awards finalists announced

The finalists in nine categories were selected by a group of 27 judges from around the state.
by Tracy Mumford

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Looping, twisting 'Number 11' may be the perfect book for our time

Looping, twisting 'Number 11' may be the perfect book for our time

Jonathan Coe's new novel is a black-hearted satire about the crumbling of modern Britain, and the point at which childhood gives way to a cold assessment of the world as it is, not as we dream it.
by Jason Sheehan

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With wisdom, humor and regret, an 85-year-old takes a walk

With wisdom, humor and regret, an 85-year-old takes a walk

Bookseller Jenny Lyons says "Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk" is a beautiful escape of a novel, and that you'll fall in love with the heroine after only a chapter.
by Tracy Mumford

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