The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR 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. 

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. 

Novelist Richard Russo: 'I find myself now ... having lived the American dream'
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author says his blue-collar grandfather would have been astonished by the life Russo leads. His new book, "Everybody's Fool," is a sequel to 1993's "Nobody's Fool."
The ethics of pet ownership
"Maybe love is not enough," writes Jessica Pierce in "See Spot Run." "Maybe the 470 million-odd animals we call pets also need some moral attention."
The great Twin Cities bookstore bike tour
This Indie Bookstore Day, 10 Twin Cities bookstores banded together for the Bookstore Passport project, challenging readers to visit all 10 in a single day. Books producer Tracy Mumford was up for the task.
'I Hate Fairyland' takes on Princess Syndrome
Skottie Young's comic may horrify (or delight) the parents of princess-obsessed kids. It's the story of a not-so-little girl who's gone a little violent after 27 years trapped in a sparkly fairyland.
A harsh migration out of India
Sunjeev Sahota's new novel follows three men who journey from India to England, looking for a better life. But NPR's Nishant Dahiya says that life turns out to be a complex, and often dangerous one.