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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.

10 words turning 40 in 2016

10 words turning 40 in 2016

Mental Floss has compiled a list of words and phrases that entered our language in 1976. Chicken nugget, anyone?
by Tracy Mumford

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A book inspired by the real story of Johnny Appleseed

A book inspired by the real story of Johnny Appleseed

Best known for "Girl with a Pearl Earring," Tracy Chevalier has new book about a pioneer family growing apple trees in Ohio.

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History's great minds and the foods that fueled them

History's great minds and the foods that fueled them

From Pythagoras to Balzac, Darwin to Marie Curie, many a genius had some very peculiar dining habits.
by Eric Weiner

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Bravery among the ruins in 'Noonday'

Bravery among the ruins in 'Noonday'

Pat Barker's latest novel completes the trilogy she began with "Life Class." Her first foray into the World War II era is rich with evocative language, though it occasionally verges on soap opera.
by Jean Zimmerman

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Mankato cookbook gets credit for first hot dish recipe

Mankato cookbook gets credit for first hot dish recipe

Food & Wine's January edition credits a 1930 cookbook from Mankato's Grace Lutheran congregation with a first printed recipe for the iconic Midwestern food.

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This 'Menagerie' is full of fierce feeling

This 'Menagerie' is full of fierce feeling

Ken Liu's new "The Paper Menagerie" collects 15 of his Hugo and Nebula Award-winning stories. Critic Amal El-Mohtar calls it "stupendously good work" that strikes chords profound enough to hurt.
by Amal El-Mohtar

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'Streetfight': How American streets can change for the better

'Streetfight': How American streets can change for the better

Countries around the world are making significant investments in bike-friendly and pedestrian-friendly streets. Can the U.S. keep up? Janette Sadik-Khan, author of 'Streetfight,' shares her ideas.
by MPR News Staff

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Publishing heavyweights petition White House, Congress to end Cuba book embargo

Publishing heavyweights petition White House, Congress to end Cuba book embargo

The petition, which comes just before President Obama's historic visit to the island nation, says the embargo is "harmful to book culture" and "counter to American ideals of free expression."

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Jodzio's love of short stories animates 'Knockout'

Jodzio's love of short stories animates 'Knockout'

The Minneapolis writer likes to explore a funny thought, but then abandon it before it gets old.
by Euan Kerr

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Unnerving WWII noir in 'A Man Lies Dreaming'

Unnerving WWII noir in 'A Man Lies Dreaming'

Lavie Tidhar's new alternate history imagines a world where Communists took over Germany in 1933, Fascism is on the rise in the U.K. and a down and out German PI in London dreams of world domination.
by Jason Heller

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