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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.

Sign Up for The Thread® Newsletter

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. 

The power of service dogs to change children's lives

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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Collards and canoodling: How Helen Gurley Brown promoted premarital cooking

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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'Sunlight Pilgrims' imagines the world at 50 below

'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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Minnesota author's guide to a bee-friendly backyard

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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No, seriously, read 'The Girls'

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

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This mall bought a bookstore to keep it open

This mall bought a bookstore to keep it open

The Village Bookstore has been a draw at a Grand Rapids, Minn., mall for more than three decades. The mall intends to keep it that way.
by Tracy Mumford

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In Dave Eggers' latest, a mother moves her kids to the Alaskan 'Frontier'

In Dave Eggers' latest, a mother moves her kids to the Alaskan 'Frontier'

Alaska's a state that's "not too precious about itself," Eggers says. In "Heroes of the Frontier," he follows an out-of-work dentist as she moves her small family to an unfamiliar home.

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What if you hadn't gotten married? 'Dark Matter' imagines an alternate life

What if you hadn't gotten married? 'Dark Matter' imagines an alternate life

Blake Crouch's new science fiction novel tells the story of Jason Dessen, a father and physics professor who suddenly finds himself in a parallel universe -- in which he's unmarried and famous.

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In 'The Darkroom,' a writer comes to grips with her dad's gender transition

In 'The Darkroom,' a writer comes to grips with her dad's gender transition

Susan Faludi says that, growing up, her father was a "domineering, hyper masculine patriarch." In her new book, she tries to understand his past and his decision to become a woman.

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'To The Secretary' tries to unwind the tangles of diplomacy

'To The Secretary' tries to unwind the tangles of diplomacy

State Department veteran Mary Thompson-Jones sifts through a few choice WikiLeaks cables and parses them for a lay audience in "To The Secretary," a fascinating primer on a complex and difficult field.
by Genevieve Valentine

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