The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR 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.

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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. 

Tickets are now available for our 26th season. Join award-winning journalist and MPR News host Kerri Miller (and special guest host Catharine Richart) as they talk with authors including Stacey Abrams, Patricia Lockwood, Misty Copeland, John Grisham, and Kate Baer. 

A cookbook for healthy eating -- in prison
Behind bars, it takes ingenuity, other prisoners and a little help from the commissary to approximate a proper diet. That's what rapper Prodigy of hip-hop's Mobb Deep learned after going to prison.
Growing up as a bank robber's daughter in 'Bandit'
Kids eventually realize their parents are real people, says author Molly Brodak. But in her new memoir, she talks about another sort of realization: That her father was dishonest, and a criminal.
Talking Volumes: Gloria Steinem, 'My Life on the Road'
Activist, journalist and women's rights leader Gloria Steinem speaks about her new memoir, "My Life on the Road," at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.
Here are the 2016 National Book Award finalists
Minnesota author Kate DiCamillo, Colson Whitehead and Jacqueline Woodson are just three of the authors on the shortlists for the National Book Awards. The 20 books still in contention for the prizes were unveiled Thursday.
Winston Churchill's great escape
Candice Millard's new book, "Hero of the Empire," dives into the early life and adventures of Winston Churchill, before he became a household name and world leader.
From fire hydrants to rescue work, dogs perceive the world through smell
Dogs can sniff out people, drugs, bombs, cancer, time of day, oncoming storms and much more. In her new book "Being A Dog," Alexandra Horowitz explores the mysteries and mechanics of canine noses