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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

America's 'Lead Wars' go beyond Flint, Mich.: 'It's now really everywhere'

America's 'Lead Wars' go beyond Flint, Mich.: 'It's now really everywhere'

David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz chronicle America's poisonous relationship with lead in "Lead Wars." "We've created a terribly toxic environment in all sorts of ways," Rosner says.

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From 'The Taliban Shuffle' to Tina Fey

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.

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The strange afterlives of 'Dead Presidents'

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.

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'The Yid' blends Soviet fact and fiction

'The Yid' blends Soviet fact and fiction

Paul Goldberg's audacious new novel trades in rumor and anecdote, conjuring a time of Antisemitism and violence in 1950's Moscow.
by Jane Ciabattari

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Let's stop requiring advanced math, a new book argues

Let's stop requiring advanced math, a new book argues

Algebra, trigonometry and calculus keep millions of people from graduating. And they're unnecessary, argues author and professor Andrew Hacker.

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Single by choice: Why fewer American women are married than ever before

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.

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Sentenced to death for murder, a woman tells her story from 'Memory'

Sentenced to death for murder, a woman tells her story from 'Memory'

In Petina Gappah's new novel, an albino Zimbabwean woman named Memory is charged with murdering her adoptive father. She narrates the tale from inside a maximum security prison in Harare.

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A new chapter for Once Upon A Crime bookstore

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.

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The most frequently assigned women authors for college courses

The most frequently assigned women authors for college courses

TIME magazine pulled data from over one million college syllabi to determine the women authors who are most frequently assigned for courses.
by Tracy Mumford

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Teen girls and social media: A story of 'Secret Lives' and misogyny

Teen girls and social media: A story of 'Secret Lives' and misogyny

Author Nancy Jo Sales says the Internet fosters a kind of sexism that is harmful to teen girls. Her new book is "American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers."

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