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.

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. 

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. 

'Welcome to Night Vale': Where supernatural is super normal
Glow Clouds, shadow governments, five-headed dragons and the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home — these are all part of life in "Night Vale," a popular podcast-turned-novel.
'Modern Girl' Carrie Brownstein describes finding (and hiding) herself in music
The Sleater-Kinney guitarist and singer is known for her defiant performances, but it was vulnerability that initially drew her to music. Brownstein's new memoir is 'Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl.'
A witch's brew of fear and fantasy: America's tiny reign of terror
Pulitizer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff's last book was a best-seller about Cleopatra. Now, the Massachusetts native is out with a history of a subject closer to home: the 1692 Salem witch trials.
Don't necessarily judge your next e-book by its online review
Online scams known as catfishing and astroturfing produce fake reviews for e-books published under fake names or generate false praise for restaurants. In either case, it pays to be skeptical.
Salman Rushdie on ancient genies and 'Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights'
Salman Rushdie's genies are troublemaking, impudent, amoral genies based on Islamic folklore. He joined Kerri Miller to talk about their appearance in his new novel.