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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. 

Holy ravioli! Cookbook reveals the Vatican's favorite recipes

Holy ravioli! Cookbook reveals the Vatican's favorite recipes

When it comes to eating, Pope Francis loves comfort food as much as the next person. "The Vatican Cookbook" is a tour of life and food in the world's smallest country.
by Tove Danovich

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Columbine shooter's mother: I carry him 'everywhere I go, always'

Columbine shooter's mother: I carry him 'everywhere I go, always'

Sue Klebold says she wishes she'd asked her son Dylan "the kinds of questions that would've encouraged him to open up." Her new memoir is "A Mother's Reckoning."

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More died on this WWII ship than on the Titanic and Lusitania combined

More died on this WWII ship than on the Titanic and Lusitania combined

On its final voyage, Germany's Wilhelm Gustloff carried soldiers and thousands of civilians, many of them children. Young adult author Ruta Sepetys revisits the ship's 1945 sinking in "Salt to the Sea."

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In 'Doubter's Almanac,' troubled math genius tries to solve the unsolvable

In 'Doubter's Almanac,' troubled math genius tries to solve the unsolvable

Author Ethan Canin says two odd talents contributed to his main character becoming a mathematician: He can always tell where he is on Earth and he can draw things perfectly.

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'Furnace' burns with horror and wonder

'Furnace' burns with horror and wonder

Livia Llewellyn's new story collection is beautiful and hideous in the same breath, steeped in the traditions of H.P. Lovecraft.
by Jason Heller

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Listen: David Brooks on defining moral character

Listen: David Brooks on defining moral character

New York Times columnist David Brooks talked with MPR News' Kerri Miller about his new book "The Road to Character."

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What is it like to be 'The Only Woman In The Room'?

What is it like to be 'The Only Woman In The Room'?

Writer Eileen Pollack studied physics at Yale in the 1970s, but ended up pursuing another career. Her personal account provides something statistics and studies often leave out, says Tania Lombrozo.
by Tania Lombrozo

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Standards, grades and tests are wildly outdated, argues 'End of Average'

Standards, grades and tests are wildly outdated, argues 'End of Average'

A Harvard faculty member argues in his new book that averages tell us nothing useful about individuals. And that has big implications for schools.

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'Narconomics': How drug cartels operate like Walmart

'Narconomics': How drug cartels operate like Walmart

Reporter Tom Wainwright says cartels that control the region's drug trade use business models that are surprisingly similar to those of big-box stores and franchises.

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