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. 

'Hemingway In Love' chronicles Papa's romantic regrets
A.E. Hotchner wrote a memoir of his friend Ernest Hemingway in 1966, though he left out several stories to protect those still living. Now, at 95, he's publishing them.
So good you'll scream? A cookbook from horror icon Vincent Price
'A Treasury of Great Recipes,' by the famed horror film actor, was out of print for decades until this month. It turns out, Price was also a foodie with an 'omnivorous appetite,' his daughter tells us.
The man behind ISIS
Journalist Joby Warrick's new book traces the roots of ISIS to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was once rejected by al-Qaida 'for being too extreme.'
Why are old women often the face of evil in fairy tales and folklore?
Evil stepmothers, witches and crones: When they aren't poisoning princesses, they're mangling mermaids or trying to eat children. One writer traces these villains' roots to a fear of female power.
Syrian author finds 'The Arab of the Future' in his own past
Riad Sattouf is a Syrian-French cartoonist who brings to life the Middle East in the 1980s. Published as a graphic novel, it provides a humorous and intimate view of the author's youth.