The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

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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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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.

October 26, 2015 12:00 AM

Canada in the headlines provides the perfect excuse to read 'Canada'

Richard Ford's compulsively readable novel spins around a 15-year-old, a bank robbery and two very naive parents.

by Kerri Miller

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October 25, 2015 12:00 AM

'After Alice' gets lost in Wonderland, sensible bestie comes to her resuce

Gregory Maguire, of 'Wicked fame,' has written a kind of parallel narrative to Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland.' This story focuses on Ada, a friend who knows Alice needs help getting home.

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October 24, 2015 6:18 AM

A dark and stormy night: Why we love the Gothic

Why do readers love stormy nights, eerie castles, romantically exotic monsters, swooning maidens and all things Gothic?

by Genevieve Valentine

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October 23, 2015 2:07 PM

The 'Harry Potter' story continues -- on the stage

The new play, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," will center on an adult Harry and his son Albus Severus. It opens in London this summer.

by The Associated Press

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October 23, 2015 1:50 PM

Book briefs: Why did Ted Cruz buy 10,000 copies of his own book?

This week in books, one presidential candidate buys his own book in bulk, while a notoriously private poet may soon be a comedy star.

by Tracy Mumford

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October 23, 2015 11:08 AM

4 kitchen tips from a 'mad scientist'

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is an MIT grad with a passion for cooking. He's taken chemistry and science into the kitchen with him in his cookbook, "Food Lab."

by Tracy Mumford

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October 23, 2015 9:45 AM

Books: Best sellers for the week of Oct. 18

"See Me" by Nicholas Sparks took the top spot in fiction, while "Killing Reagan" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard is No. 1 in non-fiction.

by The Associated Press

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October 22, 2015 8:13 AM

All hail the Glow Cloud: 'Night Vale' welcomes readers

The creators of the popular podcast 'Welcome to Night Vale' are now telling their tales of a strange desert town in a 'splendid, weird, moving' novel.

by Amal El-Mohtar