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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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 back for its 25th season. Join us at the Fitzgerald Theater for four special events with renowned authors, celebrating our anniversary with a special $25 ticket price for MPR members and Star Tribune subscribers. Buy tickets here.

March 26, 2021 10:30 AM

Talking Volumes: A conversation with author Chang-rae Lee

Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Chang-rae Lee’s past works have incorporated issues of race, class and immigration in the United States. MPR News guest host Brandt Williams interviewed Lee as part of Minnesota Public Radio and the Star Tribune’s Talking Volumes: Talking Race series.

by Brandt Williams

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March 25, 2021 4:54 PM

When your fad diet fails, and it probably will, 'Just Eat'

Diets often fail in the long term because they're too strict or require unnatural eating habits. In a new book, Barry Estabrook turns to science and history to find a weight-loss regimen that works.

by April Fulton

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March 25, 2021 6:00 AM

'There's No Such Thing As An Easy Job' takes gentle aim at Japan's work culture

Kikuko Tsumura's new novel follows an unnamed protagonist who embarks on a series of odd temp jobs — and discovers that as the jobs get duller, the demands of her male supervisors get more intense.

by Thúy Đinh

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March 24, 2021 3:29 PM

Out of prison but still trapped: Examining the 'afterlife' of incarceration

There are 45,000 laws, policies and administrative sanctions in the U.S. that target people with criminal records. Reuben Jonathan Miller researches how they affect people's lives in Halfway Home.

by Terry Gross

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March 23, 2021 1:11 PM

Farcical 'Life Of The Mind' skewers academic life and adjunct 'hell'

A graduate student is teaching four courses while also trying to finish a dissertation. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Christine Smallwood's new novel one of the wittiest she's read in a long time.

by Maureen Corrigan

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March 23, 2021 8:27 AM

With 'Fierce Poise,' Helen Frankenthaler poured beauty onto canvas

Abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler poured pools of highly diluted pigments onto her raw canvases. Biographer Alexander Nemerov says her paintings are "about feeling the world."

by Susan Stamberg

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March 22, 2021 5:07 PM

Shankar Vedantam on the harms and benefits of self-deception

The truth is — we lie to ourselves every day. But according to Hidden Brain podcast host Shankar Vedantam, that might not be a bad thing.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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March 20, 2021 8:26 AM

'A Beginner's Guide To America' shows us the States through new eyes

Roya Hakakian was a teenager when she came to the United States from Iran. She says she hopes her book will help native-born Americans see all the small signs of democracy they don't usually notice.

by Scott Simon

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March 20, 2021 7:00 AM

Ask a bookseller: A picture book about recognizing value where others don’t

Zsamé Morgan travels across Minneapolis and St. Paul with her bookmobile, Babycake’s Book Stack. She is excited to spread the word about the picture book “Daisy” by Jessixa Bagley, which was published at the start of March.

by Emily Bright

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March 20, 2021 6:00 AM

'Firekeeper's Daughter' forges a new path between cultures and genres

A contemplative exploration of existing between two cultural identities meets fake relationship romance meets backwoods thriller in this powerhouse YA debut from Ojibwe author Angeline Boulley.

by Caitlyn Paxson

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