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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. 

Google's book-scanning project is legal, U.S. appeals court says

Google's book-scanning project is legal, U.S. appeals court says

A group of authors had sued over Google's effort to compile a digital library, claiming that it's costing them a lot of money in lost revenue. The court found the program complies with copyright law.
by Alina Selyukh

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Your weekend's 'booked': Catch the Twin Cities Book Festival

Your weekend's 'booked': Catch the Twin Cities Book Festival

The largest literary gathering in the upper Midwest comes to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds Saturday with a lineup of local stars and national names.
by Tracy Mumford

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Epic 'City on Fire' burns almost too brightly

Epic 'City on Fire' burns almost too brightly

Garth Risk Hallberg's massive debut novel is a headlong rush through New York in the 1970s; critic Jason Sheehan says Hallberg writes "like he's not sure anyone will ever give him a second chance."
by Jason Sheehan

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'The Rest Of Us' is apocalypse-adjacent

'The Rest Of Us' is apocalypse-adjacent

Patrick Ness' wry new young adult novel wonders what happens to the normal kids who have to make their lives in the margins of the explosive adventures depicted in mainstream young adult fantasy.
by Tasha Robinson

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Finalists unveiled for this year's National Book Awards

Finalists unveiled for this year's National Book Awards

Lauren Groff, Terrance Hayes, Sally Mann and Ta-Nehisi Coates are among the 20 writers still in the running for the prestigious literary prize. Soon, that number will be whittled to just four winners.
by Colin Dwyer

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Macalester's Marlon James wins Man Booker Prize

Macalester's Marlon James wins Man Booker Prize

His third novel, "A Brief History of Seven Killings," which centers on the attempted assassination of Bob Marley, has already won an American Book Award and a Minnesota Book Award.
by Euan Kerr

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Why are we suspicious of do-gooders?

Why are we suspicious of do-gooders?

Donate a kidney to a stranger. Give half your income to charity. Adopt 20 children. Larissa MacFarquhar's new book profiles people who can't help but be generous — even when others consider them crazy.
by Tracy Mumford

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In books: Where are all the evil female characters?

In books: Where are all the evil female characters?

With a few memorable — and bloody — exceptions, women characters don't usually land on the "most evil" list. But that may be starting to change.
by Tracy Mumford

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