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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.

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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.

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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An interview with Marlon James: Details on his new fantasy trilogy

An interview with Marlon James: Details on his new fantasy trilogy

His new "Dark Star" trilogy has been called the "African 'Game of Thrones,'" but author Marlon James says it has more in common with the classic film "Rashomon."
by Tracy Mumford

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Roxane Gay pulls book, protesting Breitbart editor's 'egregious' book deal

Roxane Gay pulls book, protesting Breitbart editor's 'egregious' book deal

When she realized her book was on an imprint of Simon & Schuster, which is also publishing controversial conservative Milo Yiannopoulos, "I just couldn't bring myself to turn the book in," Gay said.
by Colin Dwyer

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The Black Panther, at odds with himself and his country in 'A Nation Under Our Feet'

The Black Panther, at odds with himself and his country in 'A Nation Under Our Feet'

Ta-Nehisi Coates continues his tangled, philosophical (and big-selling) superhero tale with 'Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet.' Coates' storytelling resonates, but his character can often ramble.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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