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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

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. Sam Stroozas rounds up local events and Minnesota book news you may have missed.

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where host Emily Bright 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 and produced by Kelly Gordon every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

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.

'A Manual for Cleaning Women' showcases a gritty, one-of-a-kind voice

'A Manual for Cleaning Women' showcases a gritty, one-of-a-kind voice

A posthumously published collection of stories steers recognition to Lucia Berlin, whose fictional narrators are the sort who have seen it all and aren't afraid to tell you about their crappy day.
by Maureen Corrigan

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'Eileen' is dark, damaged fun

'Eileen' is dark, damaged fun

Ottessa Moshfegh's new novel follows a defiantly, triumphantly off-putting young woman who dreams of escaping her grim New England existence. Critic Jean Zimmerman calls it "pleasingly perverse."
by Jean Zimmerman

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In new memoir, Maria tells us how she got, how she got to Sesame Street

In new memoir, Maria tells us how she got, how she got to Sesame Street

Sonia Manzano has spent 44 years as one of the lucky residents of Sesame Street. In her memoir she describes how, during her own difficult childhood in the South Bronx, she sought comfort in TV.

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'Devil in the White City': A very different time at the fair

'Devil in the White City': A very different time at the fair

With the Minnesota State Fair only days away, "Devil in the White City" offers a historical take on the dark side of another fair.
by Kerri Miller

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Mom and toddler put sleep-inducing 'Rabbit' book to the test

Mom and toddler put sleep-inducing 'Rabbit' book to the test

Psychologist Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin designed his best-selling (and self-published) story 'The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep' to help kids doze off. We visited a local naptime to see if it works.
by Lynn Neary

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Poetry anthology celebrates Lake Superior's many moods

Poetry anthology celebrates Lake Superior's many moods

A small publishing house is releasing a collection of poems on a big subject.
by Dan Kraker

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'We Believe the Children': Child abuse hysteria in the 1980s

'We Believe the Children': Child abuse hysteria in the 1980s

In the 1980s, horrific allegations of child sexual abuse sprang up around the nation, including in Minnesota. As Richard Beck's new book explains, it was part of a mass hysteria on par with the Salem with trials.
by MPR News Staff

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How close are we really to a robot-run society?

How close are we really to a robot-run society?

From self-driving cars to automated warehouses, humans are being pushed out of the equation. Soon, robots will "do a million other things we can't even conceive of," author John Markoff says.

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