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.

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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. 

'Lesbian Love Story' unearths a century of queer romance
Amelia Possanza's debut book Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir in Archives chronicles the lives of queer couples throughout the 20th century.
'The Late Americans' is not just a campus novel
Brandon Taylor deftly explores the idea of youth's possibilities and the constraints of time, space, class and wealth disparities through the intersecting lives university students and townspeople.
Ask a Bookseller: 'The English Understand Wool'
Part of the fun of talking with independent bookstores is hearing about great books from smaller, independent presses. Today's recommendation combines both.
Minnesota is more than home to author William Kent Krueger. It’s a central character in most of his books. Kruger talked about it — and about his primary human character, Cork O’Connor — at a special spring Talking Volumes in Duluth earlier this month.
From the archives: William Kent Krueger on 'Lightning Strike'
This Friday on Big Books and Bold Ideas, you’ll hear Kerri Miller’s spring Talking Volumes conversation with Minnesota author Kent Krueger. So it’s only fitting that our archive this week is Krueger’s last appearance at Talking Volumes in 2021.
Why our allergies are getting worse —and what to do about it
From excessive hygiene to low-fiber diets, author Theresa MacPhail explores the deep-rooted causes of rising allergy rates in her new book “Allergic.”
3 new books in translation blend liberation with darkness
The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu, The House on Via Gemito, and Cousins together form a tour of human darkness where liberation comes in many forms.
Ask a Bookseller: 'Wandering Souls'
This week's recommendation comes from Emi Lim Morison of Country Bookshelf in Bozeman, Mo.