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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.

Big Books and Bold Ideas

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.

A bookish gift guide

A bookish gift guide

Books can be delightful, mind-blowing, memory-making, world-changing gifts. Plus, they're easy to wrap.
by Tracy Mumford

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Great books to inspire English language learners

Great books to inspire English language learners

Way too many students who are English language learners are reading below grade level. Here are five culturally relevant books that might spark their curiosity.
by Mayra Linares

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Overdue by more than 120 years, library book finally finds its way home

Overdue by more than 120 years, library book finally finds its way home

The copy of "The Microscope and Its Revelations" was kept by a student who graduated in 1894. Now, over a century later, his 77-year-old granddaughter has sent it back. Don't worry about the late fees.
by Colin Dwyer

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Ask a bookseller: Eso Won Books in Los Angeles

Ask a bookseller: Eso Won Books in Los Angeles

With issues of race and poverty more relevant than ever, bookstore owner James Fugate said he likes "books that offer some kind of solution."
by Tracy Mumford

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The best kid's books to give this year

The best kid's books to give this year

Two children's book experts share their favorites reads for everyone from toddlers to young adults.
by MPR News Staff

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'Drug Dealer, MD': Misunderstandings and good intentions fueled opioid epidemic

'Drug Dealer, MD': Misunderstandings and good intentions fueled opioid epidemic

Psychiatrist Anna Lembke says the medical establishment and drugmakers began telling doctors in the 1980s that opioids were effective treatment for chronic pain. "That was patently false," she says.

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A literary look at one of this year's most debated video games

A literary look at one of this year's most debated video games

Some of the best, wildest, most moving storytelling right now isn't on TV or in movies -- it's in video games. So we're taking a literary look at one of this year's hottest games, "No Man's Sky."
by Jason Sheehan

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Why sci-fi and fantasy matter

Why sci-fi and fantasy matter

Sci-fi and fantasy stories "can short-circuit our assumptions about the world around us," says author Ann Leckie.
by MPR News Staff

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Ask a bookseller: Print in Portland, Maine

Ask a bookseller: Print in Portland, Maine

Josh Christie's recommendation of the moment is for "the first book that's a deep dive into the activists of the Black Lives Matter movement and the police on the other side of these conflicts."
by Tracy Mumford

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