The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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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.

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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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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.

July 27, 2016 1:11 PM

Nick Offerman, Ellen Burstyn film "The House of Tomorrow" in Minnesota

The film, which is an adaptation of a novel by a Macalester College professor, features punk rock and geodesic domes. The crew spent three weeks filming in the state, from North Branch to the Macalester campus.

by Tracy Mumford

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July 27, 2016 9:26 AM

Can serialized fiction convert binge watchers into binge readers?

As TV dramas get better and better, publishers are getting into the game with serialized fiction. Some are even referring to what they publish as "episodes" and "seasons" rather than "books."

by Lynn Neary

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July 27, 2016 3:31 AM

Can serialized fiction convert binge watchers into binge readers?

As TV dramas get better and better, publishers are getting into the game with serialized fiction. Some are even referring to what they publish as "episodes" and "seasons" rather than "books."

by Lynn Neary

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July 27, 2016 12:00 AM

Writer James Alan McPherson, winner of Pulitzer, MacArthur and Guggenheim, dies at 72

McPherson, the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, has died at 72. His work explored the intersection of white and black lives with deftness, subtlety and wry humor.

by Glen Weldon

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July 26, 2016 2:53 PM

The power of service dogs to change children's lives

4 Paws for Ability, a service dog academy in Ohio, is matching dogs with children with disabilities including autism, diabetes, fetal alcohol syndrome and more. Author Melissa Faye Greene explores these relationships in her new book, "The Underdogs."

by MPR News Staff

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July 26, 2016 1:01 PM

Collards and canoodling: How Helen Gurley Brown promoted premarital cooking

The legendary Cosmo editor and subject of two new biographies, knew sex sells -- and food brings in ad money. She cannily combined them with features like "After Bed, What? (a light snack for an encore)."

by Nina Martyris

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July 26, 2016 8:56 AM

'Sunlight Pilgrims' imagines the world at 50 below

Jenni Fagan's latest follows a transgender girl and her mother in a near-future world that's slowly freezing to death. Fagan makes potent but subtle links between climate change and personal change.

by Jason Heller

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July 26, 2016 4:00 AM

Minnesota author's guide to a bee-friendly backyard

With Minnesota beekeepers reporting they lost half of their bee colonies last year, some people are looking for ways to help pollinators thrive. A new book offers advice for urban gardeners.

by Euan Kerr

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July 25, 2016 2:39 PM

No, seriously, read 'The Girls'

The much-hyped summer book by debut novelist Emma Cline is a deep psychological dive into the head of a teenage girl caught up in a Manson family-like cult.

by Kerri Miller