The Thread® - Books and 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.

June 23, 2016 9:43 AM

The case for 1971 as rock's greatest year

That year, music journalist David Hepworth argues, offered an explosion of talent from David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Al Green, John Lennon and more. He discusses his new book, "Never a Dull Moment."

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June 22, 2016 9:39 AM

'Devil's Rock' is an atmospheric, gut-twisting descent

Things are not what they seem in Paul Tremblay's new novel: A simple search for a missing child becomes a dizzying emotional vortex as ominous new details and old tragedies surface.

by Jason Heller

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June 22, 2016 12:00 AM

'We were there': Joy Harjo on the forgotten origins of jazz

Author Joy Harjo's new play, which is still in progress, explores the origins of American music and how Native Americans have been left out of the story.

by MPR News Staff

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June 21, 2016 4:08 PM

Think 'Pride and Prejudice,' with reality TV, in Cincinnati

Curtis Sittenfeld's re-imagining of Jane Austen's beloved classic adds a decidedly modern twist to the romance.

by MPR News Staff

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June 21, 2016 11:08 AM

A revolution in book reviews: The 'Rotten Tomatoes for books'

Lit Hub has launched a new book review aggregation site, which pulls together reviews from 70 sources and gives books an average grade: A, B, C, D or F.

by Tracy Mumford

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June 21, 2016 4:53 AM

Terry McMillan's latest: Revisiting past loves, rediscovering yourself

In her new novel, "I Almost Forgot About You," McMillan's heroine confronts midlife malaise by reconnecting with men from her past.

by Karen Grigsby Bates

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June 21, 2016 1:00 AM

Fizzy 'Vinegar Girl' tames shrewishness to sparkle

Anne Tyler's latest is part of a series of Shakespeare plays-turned-novels; she's turned "The Taming of the Shrew" into a modern screwball comedy about an absent-minded scientist and his daughters.

by Heller McAlpin

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June 20, 2016 1:59 PM

On the trail of America's first serial killer

When a series of gruesome murders struck Austin, Tex., in the late 1800s, the term "serial killer" didn't exist yet.

by MPR News Staff and Tracy Mumford

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June 20, 2016 12:19 PM

Fish have feelings, too: the inner lives of our 'underwater cousins'

Jonathan Balcombe, author of What A Fish Knows, says that fish have a conscious awareness -- or "sentience" -- that allows them to experience pain, recognize individual humans and have memory.