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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. 

Michael Herr, Vietnam War reporter, dies at 76

The New York Times wrote Herr's book "Dispatches" was "a certain kind of reporting come of age ... scaled of abstractions down to the viscera, the violence and the sexuality understood and transcended. Stunning."
by Rose Friedman

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A metaphysical thriller with a dash of dangerous politics

A metaphysical thriller with a dash of dangerous politics

Lydia Millet's new novel follows a woman fleeing her husband, who has his eye on a state legislative seat. With her daughter in tow, she crosses the continent from Alaska to Maine and holes up in a remote hotel.
by MPR News Staff

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The case for 1971 as rock's greatest year

The case for 1971 as rock's greatest year

That year, music journalist David Hepworth argues, offered an explosion of talent from David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Al Green, John Lennon and more. He discusses his new book, "Never a Dull Moment."

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'Devil's Rock' is an atmospheric, gut-twisting descent

'Devil's Rock' is an atmospheric, gut-twisting descent

Things are not what they seem in Paul Tremblay's new novel: A simple search for a missing child becomes a dizzying emotional vortex as ominous new details and old tragedies surface.
by Jason Heller

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'We were there': Joy Harjo on the forgotten origins of jazz

'We were there': Joy Harjo on the forgotten origins of jazz

Author Joy Harjo's new play, which is still in progress, explores the origins of American music and how Native Americans have been left out of the story.
by MPR News Staff

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A revolution in book reviews: The 'Rotten Tomatoes for books'

A revolution in book reviews: The 'Rotten Tomatoes for books'

Lit Hub has launched a new book review aggregation site, which pulls together reviews from 70 sources and gives books an average grade: A, B, C, D or F.
by Tracy Mumford

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Fizzy 'Vinegar Girl' tames shrewishness to sparkle

Fizzy 'Vinegar Girl' tames shrewishness to sparkle

Anne Tyler's latest is part of a series of Shakespeare plays-turned-novels; she's turned "The Taming of the Shrew" into a modern screwball comedy about an absent-minded scientist and his daughters.
by Heller McAlpin

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On the trail of America's first serial killer

On the trail of America's first serial killer

When a series of gruesome murders struck Austin, Tex., in the late 1800s, the term "serial killer" didn't exist yet.
by MPR News Staff and Tracy Mumford

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