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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. 

Novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafon creates a shifting Gothic world

Novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafon creates a shifting Gothic world

Best-selling novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafon says he set out to recreate the storytelling of the great Victorian writers while including modern sensibilities.
by Euan Kerr

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A spy novelist's romantic world

A spy novelist's romantic world

Romance. Espionage. Parisian cafes and back alleys in Berlin. These are the elements that make the novels of Alan Furst among the best in the spy genre. He joins Midmorning to discuss his latest novel, and his fascination with World War II-era Europe.

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Author bases novel on grandmother's life in 1907 Winona

Author bases novel on grandmother's life in 1907 Winona

Jane Kirkpatrick had a unique resource writing her latest historical novel: photographs her grandmother took a century ago around Winona.
by Euan Kerr

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Andre Dubus III explores the days before Sept. 11 in new novel

Andre Dubus III explores the days before Sept. 11 in new novel

Best-selling novelist Andre Dubus III says his new book, set in a strip club in the days before the Sept. 11 attacks, was inspired by an image of a pile of cash on a bedroom bureau.
by Euan Kerr

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Jane Hamilton's take on the modern romance novel

Jane Hamilton's take on the modern romance novel

Author Jane Hamilton is best known for books that depict tragedy and human frailty. She departs from that formula in her new novel, "Laura Rider's Masterpiece," a dark comedy about a bored wife with literary aspirations and her attempts to create art from life.

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Heather McElhatton takes a swipe at chick lit

Heather McElhatton takes a swipe at chick lit

Twin Cities author Heather McElhatton will tell you she knows a thing or two about dating. Her second novel is all about the dangers of dating -- and of having your dreams come true.
by Euan Kerr

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Arthur Phillips' new novel connects music and memories

Arthur Phillips' new novel connects music and memories

In Arthur Phillips new novel, "The Song is You," a divorced advertising director falls in love with a young singer/songwriter. Phillips says the book is not only about their story, but about the role that music plays in our lives.

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Michael Pollan spreads the word about eating food

Michael Pollan spreads the word about eating food

Journalist and food expert Michael Pollan was often asked for advice about the best things to eat. After a lot of research he came up with a seven word formula: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Now Pollan is being told his ideas are changing lives.
by Euan Kerr

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Talking Volumes: Rita Dove

Talking Volumes: Rita Dove

In the season finale of Talking Volumes, Kerri Miller talks with poet Rita Dove. Her newest work is "Sonata Mulattica," a book-length lyrical narrative. Recorded at the Fitzgerald Theater on May 11.

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Poets laureate talk about their art

Two poet laureates talk about the art of the poem. Robert Pinsky shares his favorite poems to read aloud, and the music of verse. Rita Dove joins Kerri Miller on the stage of the Fitzgerald Theater for Talking Volumes.

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