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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR 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. 

Tickets are now available for our 26th season. Join award-winning journalist and MPR News host Kerri Miller (and special guest host Catharine Richart) as they talk with authors including Stacey Abrams, Patricia Lockwood, Misty Copeland, John Grisham, and Kate Baer. 

Midmorning Book Club: 'All Quiet on the Western Front'

After World War I, weariness and the deaths of so many young men inspired a classic, published in 1929. The novel, "All Quiet on the Western Front," and the 1930 movie version convinced many people in Germany and around the world that World War I should be the last war.

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'The Florist's Daughter' by Patricia Hampl

'The Florist's Daughter' by Patricia Hampl

"The Florist's Daughter" has earned University of Minnesota professor Patricia Hampl her third Minnesota Book Award. Hampl adapted her latest memoir, which won in the Book Award's memoir/creative nonfiction category, into a performance and reading at the Fitzgerald Theater.

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Nathan Englander writes about 'the dirty war'

Nathan Englander writes about 'the dirty war'

Nathan Englander's new book "The Ministry of Special Cases" is set against Argentina's 'dirty war.' It was the time in the late 1970s when thousands of people disappeared -- kidnapped and murdered by the military junta. Englander says the book grew out of a trip to Jerusalem.
by Euan Kerr

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Author Norman Mailer dead at 84

Author Norman Mailer dead at 84

From his classic debut novel to such masterworks of literary journalism as "The Armies of the Night," the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner always got credit for insight, passion and originality.

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Howard Jacobson spins a world from 'Kalooki Nights'

Howard Jacobson spins a world from 'Kalooki Nights'

Kalooki is central to British novelist Howard Jacobson's new book. It's a card game in which no one really knows the rules. Jacobson says it's a great way to describe the British Jewish community where he grew up, and he uses it in his new comic novel "Kalooki Nights."
by Euan Kerr

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Minnesota history writer Dave Kenney

Minnesota history writer Dave Kenney will be in the studio to talk to Gary Eichten about his newest book, "Twin Cities Picture Show: A Century of Moviegoing"

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Open Eye Figure Theatre opens a new home

Open Eye Figure Theatre opens a new home

A new theatrical venue quietly opened in south Minneapolis recently. It's the new home for Open Eye Figure Theatre. It's a small operation. Yet the company is expected to have a big impact on the local theater scene.

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The oldest first-time novelist in history?

The oldest first-time novelist in history?

Millard Kaufman's publicist demurs slightly when the 90-year-old's possible world record comes up. McSweeney's Books says Kaufman may be the oldest first-time novelist. Even if he isn't the first, publishing a book in your ninth decade is still quite an achievement.
by Mary Lucia

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Lynne Cheney at the National Press Club

Lynne Cheney at the National Press Club

Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, speaks Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington. Cheney, a historian and bestselling author, is out with a memoir titled "Blue Skies, No Fences."

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Edward P. Jones writes about the real Washington

Edward P. Jones writes about the real Washington

Edward P. Jones writes about Washington D.C. Not the Washington of politicians and the government offices, but the Washington neighborhoods filled with people struggling to get by.
by Euan Kerr

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