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 tribute to Arthur Schlesinger
A respected historian, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and an advisor to John F. Kennedy, Arthur Schlesinger, now 89 years old, was honored at the Kennedy Library in Boston last month.
Hanukkah lights
The Jewish festival of Hanukkah begins Friday at sundown. By tradition to mark the occasion, Midday presents National Public Radio's "Hanukkah Lights" special featuring four short stories about Hanukkah and Jewish life.
Giving thanks
As Thanksgiving brings family together to share food and gratitude, "Giving Thanks" brings together music, stories and writers that contemplate the meaning of the holiday.
The Current Fakebook with Amy Sedaris
On Nov. 15, Mary Lucia hosted The Current Fakebook with special guest Amy Sedaris. Sedaris is best known as an actress and television writer, but she also enjoys making crafts, cooking and entertaining. Those are the passions that lead to her new book, "I Like You." But during the evening, Amy confessed that she hasn't been entertaining much lately which makes it awkward to stay at someone else's home.
Talking Volumes: Isabel Allende
Broadcast of Talking Volumes with author Isabel Allende. Her book is "Ines of My Soul." Allende's latest work is based on the life of Spanish warrior Ines Suarez. The conversation was recorded at the Fitzgerald Theater on November 17.
The legacy of "Howl"
Fifty years ago, Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" changed the popular notion of poetry with its apocalyptic imagery, and sparked an obscenity trial with its explicit language. Midmorning examines the legacy of Ginsberg's epic poem.
Rich Cohen tells it "Sweet and Low"
Writer Rich Cohen's grandfather Ben invented two things that changed US eating habits. First he invented the machine that makes those little sugar packets you find in restaurants. Then he invented "Sweet and Low" the sugar substitute. The family made millions. But the story went sour, and Cohen's branch of the family got cut out of the will. He chronicles what happens in his new book "Sweet and Low."
Of microbes, patterns and the urban condition
"The Ghost Map" is a chronicle of the 1854 cholera outbreak that ravaged London's Soho neighborhood, the two men who determined its source, and how it all changed epidemiology, mapping and the way cities work.
Meg Tilly's promise to "Gemma"
Meg Tilly won fans in the 1980s with her acting in "The Big Chill" and an Oscar nomination for the title role in "Agnes of God." Then she turned her back on Hollywood and moved to Canada to write.