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. 

Vampires and a happy ending: Three Minnesota romance buffs discuss how the genre is changing
Move over, Mr. Darcy. These days, romance novels are just as likely to be populated by zombies, vampires and antiheroes as a muscle-bound alpha male. But one thing remains: the promise of a happy ending. Three Minnesota romance aficionados join host Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to talk about how the genre is changing.
YouTubers 'Squirmy and Grubs' confront misconceptions by sharing stories of interabled couples
A Minnesota couple with a wildly popular social media following are out with a new book about relationships — specifically, relationships like theirs where one person has a disability and the other person does not. It’s called “Interabled.”
How a public library’s summer game took over a Michigan city
Summer in Ann Arbor, Mich., means thousands of people hunting for hidden codes around the city and reading books to earn points. It’s part of a popular game organized by the public library.
New books this week: Unconventional novels and an oral history of Hiroshima, Nagasaki
An oral history of the atomic bomb detonations 80 years ago leads this week’s list of publishing highlights, which also includes a handful of novels by authors including Louis Sachar and Jason Mott.
As some governments pull away from climate issues, others are working on solutions
MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner talked with author Alan Weisman about the innovative ways people across the globe are creating practical solutions to combat climate change.
There’s magic at work in this new batch of books
We don’t just mean literary sorcery by which words summon worlds for readers, but also literal, honest-to-goodness magic: angels, conjurers, otherworldly attractions and dances of mysterious power.