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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. 

Timbuktu's 'Badass Librarians': Checking out books under al-Qaida's nose

Timbuktu's 'Badass Librarians': Checking out books under al-Qaida's nose

Librarian Abdel Kader Haidara organized a smuggling operation to keep centuries-old manuscripts out of the hands of al-Qaida. Joshua Hammer wrote about it in "The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu."

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Aparna Nancherla on finding her voice

Aparna Nancherla on finding her voice

Aparna Nancherla has a made a career of telling jokes, but her tastes in literature run toward the serious.
by MPR News Staff

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In the lines of Ocean Vuong, echoes of his family's past in Vietnam

In the lines of Ocean Vuong, echoes of his family's past in Vietnam

Award-winning poet Ocean Vuong speaks about his new book "Night Sky with Exit Wounds," which weaves growing up in America with his family's memories of a war-torn Vietnam.

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Poetry Friday: Take a (line) break

Poetry Friday: Take a (line) break

To celebrate National Poetry Month, The Thread is sharing a collection of poetry from local presses every Friday in April.
by MPR News Staff

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Angels, mobsters, monsters: This 'Box' really does have everything

Angels, mobsters, monsters: This 'Box' really does have everything

Richard Kadrey kicks off a new series about a magic-immune thief in a magic-soaked Los Angeles with 'The Everything Box.' It's a madcap ride in which the end of humanity is just the beginning.
by Jason Sheehan

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Cooking with the Bard: We suss out Shakespeare's forgotten foods

Cooking with the Bard: We suss out Shakespeare's forgotten foods

Shakespeare's audiences have devoured tales of Twelfth Night's "cakes and ale" and Hamlet's "funeral baked meats." But there's a whole lot more to the bard's culinary story. How about chewets, gallimaufries, and fools?
by Anne Bramley

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Forget Fabio: A modern view of romance novels

Forget Fabio: A modern view of romance novels

Romance novels are a billion-dollar industry, yet the books are widely derided as "un-literary." A new documentary explores the women who write them, the women who read them and where the stereotypes fall short.
by Tracy Mumford

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A tender and witty view of life on a family farm

A tender and witty view of life on a family farm

Jane Hamilton's new novel, "The Excellent Lombards," explores life on a family-run apple orchard.
by MPR News Staff

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Don't read these: The most frequently challenged books of 2015

Don't read these: The most frequently challenged books of 2015

The American Library Association released its annual list of books that people have attempted to ban from schools and libraries.
by Tracy Mumford

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The lonely side of James Brown

The lonely side of James Brown

When James McBride, a National Book Award winner for his fiction, decided to write an entire book about James Brown, he wanted to push beyond the hype and racism he says haunts Brown's legacy.

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