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.

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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.

October 25, 2016 10:04 AM

Fact, fiction, history and heart converge in 'The Terranauts'

T.C. Boyle's new novel is ripped from the headlines ... of 1993. It follows the misadventures of a group of scientists conducting experiments in a hermetically sealed, Biosphere 2-like environment.

by Jason Heller

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October 24, 2016 2:05 PM

Christopher Marlowe officially credited as co-author of 3 Shakespeare plays

Oxford University Press will list both William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe as co-authors of the three Henry VI plays in its newest complete edition of Shakespeare's work.

by Rebecca Hersher

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October 24, 2016 2:00 PM

Ann Patchett: 'Guess what, folks? We judge books by their covers'

Author Ann Patchett wrote her latest novel because she couldn't find any other book that captured "the big messiness that is modern family."

by MPR News Staff

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October 24, 2016 12:39 PM

10 deaths, one day: A look at the youngest victims of gun violence

On average, seven children and teens are killed by guns each day in the U.S. Reporter Gary Younge picked one day -- Nov. 23, 2013 -- and profiled the ten boys who died on that date.

by MPR News Staff

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October 24, 2016 9:02 AM

'Thrill Me' gets personal about life and writing

Writer Benjamin Percy has been on both sides of the divide between literary and genre fiction, and "Thrill Me" is both a meditation on the writing life and a passionate argument against that divide.

by Jason Heller

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October 24, 2016 6:16 AM

Little Free Libraries robbed throughout Twin Cities

While nobody knows yet who is behind the thefts and why, there has been speculation that the books are being stolen so they can be sold at local bookstores.

by The Associated Press

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October 24, 2016 5:00 AM

For John Sandford, Minnesota remains the perfect crime scene

Thrill master John Sandford, who set his latest book, "Escape Clause," at the Minnesota Zoo, talks with MPR News about his characters' Minnesota roots -- and the hardest part about crime writing.

by Tracy Mumford

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October 22, 2016 4:00 AM

Ask a bookseller: Left Bank Books in St. Louis

Bookseller Shane Mullen has two eerie, unsettling reads for your October book list. The first deals with a horror film gone awry in the Amazon and the second revolves around the mysterious disappearance of young twin girls.

by Tracy Mumford

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October 21, 2016 12:00 PM

Here's the only good thing -- books! -- about the Lynx losing the WNBA championship

The mayors of Minneapolis and Los Angeles staged a friendly wager over the game: The loser has to send a shipment of books by local women authors to the winning city. Minneapolis is preparing to send the books next week.

by Tracy Mumford