The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

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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.

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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. 

The shadow fighters of the Civil War
Historian Patrick O’Donnell spotted an intriguing roadside marker and then spent six years researching a part of the Civil War long forgotten. His new book, “The Unvanquished,” tells the story shape-shifting spies, fearless guerilla fighters and military leaders straight out of a movie.
4 crime and suspense novels make for hot summer reading
There’s something about the shadowy moral recesses of crime and suspense fiction that makes those genres especially appealing as temperatures soar. Here are four novels that turn the heat up.
The high cost of medical whistleblowing
MPR News guest host Euan Kerr talks with University of Minnesota bioethicist Carl Elliott about his new book, “The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No.”
Author Gabrielle Zevin to speak in Minneapolis for the paperback release of 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow'
“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is a New York Times best-selling book about love, art and video games. MPR News reporter Kyra Miles spoke with author Gabrielle Zevin ahead of her visit to Minneapolis.
Can you create your own luck?
Social scientist Mark Robert Rank says: not really. You can and should work hard. Talent plays a role. But random chance has far more to do with success than sheer determination.
Catherine Newman’s novel “Sandwich” centers on a woman vacationing with her young adult children and her elderly parents. Julie Satow’s “When Women Ran Fifth Avenue” profiles three NYC department stores.