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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. 

How bookstores can bring us together

How bookstores can bring us together

"Bookstores are the perfect place for the conversation to begin about how we can understand different people's perspectives," said Oren Teicher, CEO of the American Booksellers Association.
by Tracy Mumford

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Weird, spirited 'Pieces of Soap' celebrates the essays of Stanley Elkin

Weird, spirited 'Pieces of Soap' celebrates the essays of Stanley Elkin

Elkin, who died in 1995, was known for his satirical takes on American culture. Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews a new collection of essays that showcases the freshness of Elkin's work.
by Maureen Corrigan

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A hospice chaplain shares what dying taught her about living

A hospice chaplain shares what dying taught her about living

Kerry Egan has sat at the bedside of many patients at the end of their lives, and she shares what she's learned in her new book, "On Living."
by MPR News Staff

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'Fish in Exile' is a chronicle of grief barely survived

'Fish in Exile' is a chronicle of grief barely survived

In Vi Khi Nao's new novel, a husband and wife are falling apart after losing their two children in a terrible accident. Nao's poetic chops are on full display in this immersive, difficult book.
by Carmen Maria Machado

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Make America bake again: A history of cake in the U.S.

Make America bake again: A history of cake in the U.S.

From the waste-not ethos behind Angel Food Cake, to the science fads that sparked chocolate cake, "American Cake" tells a story of immigration and ingenuity.
by Nina Martyris

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Minneapolis felon tries to trace his life's path in new memoir

Minneapolis felon tries to trace his life's path in new memoir

Zeke Caligiuri grew up in Minneapolis just as the city was earning the nickname "Murderapolis." He wrote his memoir behind bars, where he is serving a 34-year sentence for robbery and murder.
by MPR News Staff

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Would you learn a second language for love?

Would you learn a second language for love?

When Lauren Collins fell for a Frenchman, she didn't speak French. They could communicate in English, but she couldn't help but wonder: What was she missing?
by MPR News Staff

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For Tippi Hedren, Hitchcock's scares came off-screen

For Tippi Hedren, Hitchcock's scares came off-screen

In her new memoir, "Tippi," the actress speaks frankly about Hollywood, her career, and her complicated relationship with Alfred Hitchcock -- who made her a star, but also made her life hell.

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Ask a bookseller: Square Books in Oxford, Miss.

Ask a bookseller: Square Books in Oxford, Miss.

Bookseller Cody Morrison is excited that a pioneer woman's first-person account of life in the Mississippi Delta in the late 1800s has been put back into print.
by Tracy Mumford

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2016 Kirkus Prize winners: Jason Reynolds, C.E. Morgan and Susan Faludi

2016 Kirkus Prize winners: Jason Reynolds, C.E. Morgan and Susan Faludi

Reynolds' "As Brave as You" won in the literary award's category for young readers' literature; Morgan's "The Sport of Kings" won for fiction; and Faludi's "In the Darkroom" won for nonfiction.
by Colin Dwyer

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