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The Thread® - Books and Literary 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. 

'Somewhat United': Founding fathers who bicker, bumble and snore

'Somewhat United': Founding fathers who bicker, bumble and snore

Sarah Vowell's charming not-quite-a-history gives us a young, glory-hungry Marquis de Lafayette, and the Founding Fathers not as marble statues, but as real men who bicker, bumble and snore.
by Colin Dwyer

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'The End': The most memorable literary death scenes

'The End': The most memorable literary death scenes

What characters' unfortunate demises have you never forgotten? We build a list of the literary death scenes that still stick with us.
by Tracy Mumford

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The disappearing 'Katherine Carlyle'

The disappearing 'Katherine Carlyle'

Novelist Rupert Thomson has been compared to everyone from Franz Kafka to Oliver Sacks. His newest book centers around a 19-year-old girl who decides to leave her life behind for points unknown.
by MPR News Staff

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Offering an authentic view of Appalachia in 'Above the Waterfall'

Offering an authentic view of Appalachia in 'Above the Waterfall'

Ron Rash knows the North Carolina mountains well: The award-winning author lives on a ridge where cell phone coverage and the Internet don't reach.
by Tracy Mumford

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Rowling's magic needs no spells in 'Career of Evil'

Rowling's magic needs no spells in 'Career of Evil'

In her third outing as crime novelist Robert Galbraith, J.K. Rowling hits her stride with a fluid, complex mystery. Reviewer Annalisa Quinn says she excels at depicting evil, ordinary or otherwise.
by Annalisa Quinn

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Warrior Nation: A History of the Red Lake Ojibwe

Warrior Nation: A History of the Red Lake Ojibwe

The Red Lake Nation is unique among reservations in Minnesota -- and a new book by Ojibwe historian and author Anton Treuer tells the story.

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'Fates and Furies': Two sides of the truth

'Fates and Furies': Two sides of the truth

Lauren Groff's new book tells the story of a marriage over 24 years, from two very different perspectives.
by MPR News Staff

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'Becoming Nicole' recounts one family's acceptance of their transgender child

'Becoming Nicole' recounts one family's acceptance of their transgender child

When Kelly and Wayne Maines adopted identical twin boys in 1997, they didn't anticipate raising one of their sons as a daughter. They tell their story, with author Amy Ellis Nutt, in 'Becoming Nicole.'

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Billy the Kid, 'the Holy Grail of Western Americana'

Billy the Kid, 'the Holy Grail of Western Americana'

A recently authenticated photograph of Billy the Kid could go for millions at auction. Kerri Miller picks a book that digs into the truth of the Western legend.
by Kerri Miller

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The deep, dark secret of R.L. Stine: 'I never planned to be scary'

The deep, dark secret of R.L. Stine: 'I never planned to be scary'

After more than 20 years of frights, Stine's 'Goosebumps' series is finally getting a big-screen adaptation, starring Jack Black. For Stine and Black, the key to the nightmare is in keeping things fun.
by Colin Dwyer

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