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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. 

A poet's progress on the mighty Mississippi

A poet's progress on the mighty Mississippi

Writer and NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu stops by the Midmorning studio to talk about his documentary in the works on the Mississippi River, which inspired the rich blues music of his adopted Louisiana home.

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Indian novelist Anosh Irani needs distance to write about home

Indian novelist Anosh Irani needs distance to write about home

Novelist Anoshi Irani says while he still pines for India and in particular Bombay where he grew up. But he also says he knows he can't write about his homeland while he's there, because it's just too close.
by Euan Kerr

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Michael Chabon on his latest book

Michael Chabon on his latest book

Michael Chabon invents a Jewish homeland in Alaska as the setting for his detective novel, "The Yiddish Policeman's Union." Chabon's conversation with Kerri Miller was recorded at the Fitzgerald Theater on May 22 as part of Talking Volumes.

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A little humor for the climatologist

A little humor for the climatologist

When University of Minnesota climatologist Mark Seeley can steal some time to read for pleasure, he heads for humor writers.

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Chabon takes a paragraph from history

A preview of the final Talking Volumes show of the season featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon, who is out with a new book called "The Yiddish Policeman's Union."

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Writing runs in the Higgins Clark family

Writing runs in the Higgins Clark family

Mary Higgins Clark is one of the best-selling and most prolific mystery writers of all time. And her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, has been following in her footsteps. The two authors are in the Twin Cities promoting their latest books.

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Heather McElhatton revels in her "Pretty Little Mistakes"

Heather McElhatton revels in her "Pretty Little Mistakes"

It's a rare novel that opens with instructions on how it should be read. But that's exactly how Heather McElhatton's "Pretty Little Mistakes" begins. At the end of each chapter she presents a choice and a reader gets to decide the direction of the story. McElhatton admits the book arose out of a personal crisis.
by Euan Kerr

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Irvine Welsh writes about hatred

Irvine Welsh writes about hatred

Scottish writer Irvine Welsh catapulted onto the international literary scene with "Trainspotting," his disturbing story about heroin addicts in Edinburgh. His latest novel is called "The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs" -- although there's little about food or bedroom secrets in the story. It's really a story about hate.
by Euan Kerr

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Arthur Phillips' latest novel

Arthur Phillips' latest novel

He's written about Americans in Eastern Europe and the search for ancient Egyptian artifacts. Author Arthur Phillips talks about his new novel, a ghost story set in Victorian London.

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Sherman Alexie takes a swipe at violence

Sherman Alexie takes a swipe at violence

Author Sherman Alexie isn't shy about sharing. He's a prolific writer whose novels and short stories often describe the paradoxes of life as a Native American in the 21st century. Alexie says he's been thinking lately about violence. What resulted is a book of gritty fantasy called "Flight" which is about a young man named "Zits.'
by Euan Kerr

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