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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.

Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel Prize in literature

Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel Prize in literature

The Swedish Academy said the Minnesota native "created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."
by The Associated Press

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Choose a book to read to your barber, he'll take a little money off the top

Choose a book to read to your barber, he'll take a little money off the top

A great way for kids to brush up on reading skills? Why, reading to the barber, of course. That's the idea at one barbershop in Ypsilanti, Mich. Oh, and in Houston, Dubuque, Iowa, and Columbus, Ohio.
by Jennifer Guerra

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In 'Singing Bones,' an artist recasts the Grimm tales -- literally

In 'Singing Bones,' an artist recasts the Grimm tales -- literally

Illustrator Shaun Tan puts his skills to a new test in "The Singing Bones." He's taking the familiar Grimm fairy tales and condensing each one down to a single, wordless photo of one of his sculptures.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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'The Wangs' is a sparkling family travelogue -- with teeth

'The Wangs' is a sparkling family travelogue -- with teeth

Jade Chang's debut novel follows former cosmetics magnate Charles Wang, whose business empire has collapsed, as he herds his fractious family on a cross-country roadtrip to their new home.
by Jason Heller

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A cookbook for healthy eating -- in prison

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.
by Tove Danovich

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Growing up as a bank robber's daughter in 'Bandit'

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.

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Ask a bookseller: Country Bookshelf in Bozeman, Mont.

Ask a bookseller: Country Bookshelf in Bozeman, Mont.

Debut novelists don't always get the respect they deserve, but bookseller Carson Evans is a fan of first-timers. Her fall book pick is "The Mothers" by Brit Bennett.
by Tracy Mumford

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Cuba is a dream that doesn't let go in 'The Mortifications'

Cuba is a dream that doesn't let go in 'The Mortifications'

Derek Palacio's new novel follows a family who escape Cuba, leaving their political rebel patriarch behind after he refuses to go with them. When he reappears decades later, their lives come apart.
by Jason Sheehan

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Talking Volumes: Gloria Steinem, 'My Life on the Road'

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.

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