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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. 

From the Hardy boys to Harry Potter

From the Hardy boys to Harry Potter

Summer reading lists and the latest Harry Potter may absorb younger readers, but America's favorite librarian has other literary recommendations for kids and teens.

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Laurie Lindeen looks back on a rock and roll Cinderella story

Laurie Lindeen looks back on a rock and roll Cinderella story

Laurie Lindeen knew she wanted to be in a band -- and particularly an all-girl band -- before she learned to play an instrument. It was the late 1980s and she moved to Minneapolis from Madison to experience the music scene. Now Lindeen is retelling the whole story in her new memoir "Petal Pusher."
by Euan Kerr

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Ron Carlson writes about men and work in "Five Skies."

Ron Carlson writes about men and work in "Five Skies."

Ron Carlson is best-known for short story collections such as "At the Jim Bridger." His first novel in a quarter-century, "Five Skies," follows three men sent into the wilds of Idaho for an unusual construction project.
by Euan Kerr

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For the love of fly fishing, family and words

For the love of fly fishing, family and words

St. Paul's Mayor Chris Coleman said he's a trout angler, but his connection to Norman Maclean's "A River Runs Through It" runs much deeper than his interest in fishing.

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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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