The Thread

The Thread from MPR News

A new twist on book talk

Ask a Bookseller: Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. Listen here.

The Thread newsletter: 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. Sent every Friday.

Big Books and Bold Ideas: Conversations on books and ideas with Kerri Miller, Fridays at 11 a.m. Listen here.

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'Crooked Hallelujah' sings of beauty and trouble between mothers and daughters
Kelli Jo Ford's novel follows three generations of Cherokee women trying to forge a future in the harsh environment of the 1980s oil boom in Texas — and learning just how difficult that can be.
Cartoonist Adrian Tomine's self-deprecating, self-aware humor shines in memoir
In framing Tomine's life trajectory via professional and personal setbacks and moments of mortification, “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist” becomes mesmerizing, funny, and deeply honest.
Author Elliot Ackerman on 'Red Dress in Black and White'
The latest novel from author and journalist Elliot Ackerman explores both a story of personal and political intrigue in Turkey. We spoke with him about the novel and the relationship between writing fiction and nonfiction.
Think fantasy is kid stuff? Try 'Trouble the Saints'
Alaya Dawn Johnson's new novel is set in New York on the eve of World War II, in a world where a few lucky (well, not that lucky) people are gifted with "saints' hands," that give them strange skills.
Exhausting effect of FOIA requests evident in 'Baseless'
Nicholson Baker's book misses the mark in an aim to take readers on a quest to discover if the U.S. used biological weapons developed in the '50s — and to examine the failings of public records law.
Alex Trebek is here to tell you, 'The Answer Is ...'
The Jeopardy! host didn't plan to write an autobiography. "I'm just a quiz show host who's been doing the same job for 36 years," he says. But writing the book gave him "a great deal of satisfaction."
The real 'Hamnet' died centuries ago, but this novel is timeless
Maggie O'Farell's new novel confront's a parent's worst nightmare: The loss of a child. In this case, it's Hamnet, the real-life son of William Shakespeare, whose death may have inspired “Hamlet.”
The Thread: 'My Dark Vanessa' by Kate Elizabeth Russell
Are you flying through your summer reading list? Kerri Miller is here for you with the first of three delicious midsummer thrillers to keep you reading late into those summer nights.
Linguist John McWhorter says 'White Fragility' is condescending toward Black people
Columbia University professor John McWhorter says the bestselling book “White Fragility” supposes that "Black people's feelings must be stepped around to an exquisitely sensitive degree."