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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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Sign up for The Thread newsletter to get reading recommendations from Kerri Miller and other bookworms around the MPR newsroom. Sam Stroozas rounds up local events and Minnesota book news you may have missed.

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where host Emily Bright 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 and produced by Kelly Gordon every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

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.

From private collection to lending library: Quatrefoil grows as resource for LGBT community

From private collection to lending library: Quatrefoil grows as resource for LGBT community

A new exhibition opens at the Hennepin History Museum in Minneapolis Thursday night on the Quatrefoil Library, one of just a few LGBT lending libraries in the nation. Over the past 30 years, it's grown into a research center and community space.
by Marianne Combs

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Sanders has book deal; will reflect on campaign

Sanders has book deal; will reflect on campaign

The book is scheduled to come out Nov. 15, a week after Election Day, and will include both his policy ideas for the future and reflections on his surprisingly strong run in the primaries.
by The Associated Press

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After shootings and protests, stores can't keep these books in stock

After shootings and protests, stores can't keep these books in stock

Three Twin Cities bookstores have sold out of Ta-Nehisi Coates' book, "Between the World and Me," in just the last week, and other titles are flying off the shelves.
by Tracy Mumford

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Wild, free and freezing: Blair Braverman's life in the north

Wild, free and freezing: Blair Braverman's life in the north

Blair Braverman's memoir about life in the Arctic and her path to sled dog racing has earned her the title of a "21st-century feminist reincarnation of Jack London."
by Tracy Mumford

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'Lab Girl': An illuminating memoir of a woman in science

'Lab Girl': An illuminating memoir of a woman in science

Hope Jahren was raised in Austin, Minn., where she escaped to the cornfields as a teenager. Her fascination with plants has continued ever since, to her current role as a geobiology professor at the University of Hawaii.
by MPR News Staff

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'The Dream Life of Astronauts' is a journey to emotional deep space

'The Dream Life of Astronauts' is a journey to emotional deep space

Patrick Ryan's book of short stories is set around Cape Canaveral, Fla., during the 1960s and '70s. Critic Maureen Corrigan says it's the best new short story collection she's read in light years.
by Maureen Corrigan

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In search of the truth of a kidnapped father

In search of the truth of a kidnapped father

After the fall of Qaddafi, Hisham Matar returned to his Libyan homeland after more than two decades to see if he could find his father.
by MPR News Staff

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Where are the female spies in fiction?

Where are the female spies in fiction?

Roles for female characters in the spy genre tend to fall into two categories: the imperiled love interest or the femme fatale.
by Tracy Mumford

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Stuck inside with the AC on? Try these five cool YA reads

Stuck inside with the AC on? Try these five cool YA reads

Summer can seem slow for eager readers — not much on the shelves, and not much coming. But we've got some recommendations for great young adult reads to while away the long hot days.
by Caitlyn Paxson

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