The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR 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.

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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. 

Tickets are now available for our 26th season. Join award-winning journalist and MPR News host Kerri Miller (and special guest host Catharine Richart) as they talk with authors including Stacey Abrams, Patricia Lockwood, Misty Copeland, John Grisham, and Kate Baer. 

From 'The Taliban Shuffle' to Tina Fey
Kim Barker's memoir about reporting in Pakistan and Afghanistan has been turned into the Tina Fey film, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot." Barker explains what it's like when Hollywood put its own spin on your life.
The strange afterlives of 'Dead Presidents'
There have been 45 presidents of the United States — and some of them became more interesting after they died.
Single by choice: Why fewer American women are married than ever before
Rebecca Traister, author of "All the Single Ladies," says the declining marriage rates among adult women are less about the institution of marriage and more about the choices available to women today.
A new chapter for Once Upon A Crime bookstore
For 14 years Gary Shulze and Pat Frovarp have run Once Upon A Crime, a Minneapolis bookstore that caters to mystery lovers. They're retiring, and the store is changing hands.