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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. 

Kevin Powell on what a woman taught him about being a man

Kevin Powell on what a woman taught him about being a man

Kevin Powell's memoir explores what it means to be a man in today's society. But, he said, he learned a lot of it from a woman: Zora Neale Hurston.
by MPR News Staff

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'Sweetbitter' is a savory saga of restaurant life and love

'Sweetbitter' is a savory saga of restaurant life and love

Oysters, cocaine, fine wine, love triangles: Stephanie Danler's debut novel "Sweetbitter" follows a year in the life of a young woman working at a top-tier Manhattan restaurant.

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Minneapolis' vanished history: Life on Skid Row

Minneapolis' vanished history: Life on Skid Row

The edge of downtown Minneapolis now known as the Gateway District was once the city's Skid Row. A new book dives into the darker side of local history.
by MPR News Staff

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UMD prof's novel lays bare America's solutions to 'Indian problem'

UMD prof's novel lays bare America's solutions to 'Indian problem'

Linda LeGarde Grover's debut novel, "The Road Back to Sweetgrass" follows the lives of three Ojibwe women from Minnesota as they contend with federal policies that do more harm than good. She'll read from it Thursday night in Minneapolis.
by Dan Kraker

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'Smoke' is a gloriously murky vision of the past

'Smoke' is a gloriously murky vision of the past

Dan Vyleta's new novel imagines an alternate Victorian England where ill deeds (and even ill thoughts) are made visible by vile black Smoke; it's a marker not just of personal worth but also class.
by Jason Heller

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'Girls & Sex': What's missing from the conversation

'Girls & Sex': What's missing from the conversation

Peggy Orenstein's new book explores the modern sexual landscape for teenagers, and the mixed messages being sent by parents, peers and the media.
by MPR News Staff

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Who was Joe Gould, and did he really write the world's longest book?

Who was Joe Gould, and did he really write the world's longest book?

Years ago, two New Yorker articles told the story of a Harvard dropout who claimed to be writing the longest book ever. Did he succeed? In 'Joe Gould's Teeth,' Jill Lepore tries to answer that question.

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Sherman Alexie on his new kids' book

Sherman Alexie on his new kids' book

Alexie says he always struggled with being named after his dad, so he decided to write a book about it. "Thunder Boy Jr." is about a little boy who is eager to have his own name and be his own person.

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Literary dogs and the Little Free Library Festival

Literary dogs and the Little Free Library Festival

Saturday was the first-ever Little Free Library Festival, complete with libraries on wheels and dogs competing in bookish costumes.
by Tracy Mumford

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The delicate task of restoring one of the world's oldest libraries

The delicate task of restoring one of the world's oldest libraries

After a four-year restoration, Morocco is poised to reopen the Qarawiyyin Library, founded more than a millennium ago by a pioneering woman and home to some of the earliest works of Islam.
by Leila Fadel

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