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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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Sign up for The Thread newsletter to get reading recommendations from Kerri Miller and other bookworms around the MPR newsroom. Sam Stroozas rounds up local events and Minnesota book news you may have missed.

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where host Emily Bright 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 and produced by Kelly Gordon every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

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.

Donald Hall reflects on his life of poetry

Donald Hall is considered one of America's greatest poets. He's published 15 volumes of poetry. The two most recent works, "Without" and "The Painted Bed," deal with the death of his wife, poet Jane Kenyon in 1995. Hall told MPR's Marianne Combs he was drawn to poetry from an early age.
by Marianne Combs

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Welfare and the American Dream

Hard work and sustained good luck make the difference as people try to escape welfare. A new book ponders why generations of families depend on government aid.

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Don't Know Much

Since the first installment in 1990, The Don't Know Much About, series has merged education with humor, and racked up impressive sales on a number of bestseller lists.

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Tobias Wolff's first novel "dips deep" into his own memories

Author Tobias Wolff made a name for himself with his successful memoir, "This Boy's Life," which was made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. You may recognize his name because his brother, Geoffrey Wolff, is also a writer. Now, Wolff is out with his first novel, "Old School," which is the January selection of the Talking Volumes book club.

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Presidents on the playground

The childhood of a president can tell us a lot about the type of leader he becomes, according to the author of a new book.

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Reliving "A Christmas Memory"

For some people, Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory" is a holiday classic. It's the autobiographical account of a simpler Christmas celebration. That tradition is alive and well in Duluth, where a public reading of the story has taken place every year for three decades.

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Talking Volumes: The Polar Express

"The Polar Express" was the December 2004 Talking Volumes selection.

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Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell champion English magic

Unless you've read Susanna Clarke's novel, "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel," you're probably unaware how the British used a magician to defeat Napoleon at Waterloo.

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Ballad of the Whiskey Robber

In the 1990s a one-man crime wave hit the Hungarian capital of Budapest. A man, usually dressed in a bad wig and reeking of whiskey, robbed more than 20 post offices and banks. Much to the frustration of the Hungarian police, the "Whiskey Robber" became a national hero.

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A dark time for Finns recounted in new novel

In the early 1930s, Soviet recruiters persuaded thousands of Finnish-Americans from northern Minnesota to move to Stalin's Russia. They thought they were going to build a utopia, but many ended up as Stalin's victims. A Minnesota author, William Durbin, has written a new book for young people which describes the painful episode.

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