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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

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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.

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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Up from the ashes, a public library in Sri Lanka welcomes new readers

Up from the ashes, a public library in Sri Lanka welcomes new readers

The Jaffna library once held irreplaceable, ancient manuscripts, lost when it was torched in 1981. Fully restored, the beloved landmark today is filled with readers.
by Julie McCarthy

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Book briefs: How long will it take you to read that book?

Book briefs: How long will it take you to read that book?

How fast do you read? An online database with more than 12 million books claims that it can estimate your personal reading time for any title.
by Tracy Mumford

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Affairs to remember: Infidelity in fiction

Affairs to remember: Infidelity in fiction

Unhappy marriages have inspired many a bestseller. These brutally honest books tell the stories of the cheaters and the cheated-on.
by Tracy Mumford

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Local reads: Books about the Twin Cities

Local reads: Books about the Twin Cities

The Twin Cities has a rich literary history and a bustling publishing scene. What books capture Minneapolis and St. Paul?
by Tracy Mumford

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The transformation of the LAPD -- and the work that remains

The transformation of the LAPD -- and the work that remains

Joe Domanick's "Blue" traces the history of the Los Angeles police and the shift away from a "disastrous policy" of using military-style tactics.

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