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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. 

Slavery scars a transatlantic family tree in 'Homegoing'

Slavery scars a transatlantic family tree in 'Homegoing'

Yaa Gyasi's debut novel follows the family lines of two separated half-sisters in 18th-century Ghana: One is married off to an Englishman, while the other is sent to America and sold into slavery.

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Kao Kalia Yang returns with 'The Song Poet'

Kao Kalia Yang returns with 'The Song Poet'

Kao Kalia Yang's new book is a memoir of her father, a song poet in the Hmong tradition.
by MPR News Staff

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Best books for grads that aren't Dr. Seuss

Best books for grads that aren't Dr. Seuss

As much as you love "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" / there are other great books that all new grads should know.
by Tracy Mumford

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Indigenous Book Club Month: Books by Native authors

Indigenous Book Club Month: Books by Native authors

The month of June is Indigenous Book Club Month in Canada, so MPR News host Tom Weber thought, why not have our own in Minnesota?
by MPR News Staff

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Practice makes possible: What we learn by studying amazing kids

Practice makes possible: What we learn by studying amazing kids

In the age-old fight between hard work and talent, researcher Anders Ericsson says it's no contest. Practice wins the day.
by Cory Turner

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Moving, inventive 'Thing with Feathers' is a guide to grief

Moving, inventive 'Thing with Feathers' is a guide to grief

Max Porter's darkly funny, fiercely emotional new novel centers on a family -- a husband and two sons -- devastated by the loss of their wife and mother. And then the crow appears.
by Heller McAlpin

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The man behind the spy: Benedict Arnold

The man behind the spy: Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold is famous for betraying the American army during the Revolutionary War and defecting to the British. But the story is more complicated than what is in the textbooks, according to Nathaniel Philbrick's new book.
by MPR News Staff

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From medical maggots to stench soup, 'Grunt' explores the science of warfare

From medical maggots to stench soup, 'Grunt' explores the science of warfare

When it comes to curiosity, science writer Mary Roach describes herself as someone who is "very out there." Her new book, "Grunt," looks at some scientific developments that help keep soldiers safe.

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Explaining the latest literary trend: 'Grip lit'

Explaining the latest literary trend: 'Grip lit'

First there was "chick lit." Now there is "grip lit": the boom of dark crime novels written by women.
by Tracy Mumford

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Neil Gaiman's nonfiction, seen from the 'Cheap Seats'

Neil Gaiman's nonfiction, seen from the 'Cheap Seats'

Neil Gaiman is best known for his fictional creations, but he's also a prolific producer of essays, album liner notes, speeches and introductions -- now collected in "The View From the Cheap Seats."
by Jason Heller

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