The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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 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.

January 13, 2021 6:07 AM

'Aftershocks' tells of a reckoning with the self — and with memory

Writer Nadia Owusu has lived many lives. Her nonlinear memoir, centered on the idea of physical and metaphorical earthquakes, is about all of the parts of what is her single, complex life.

by Ilana Masad

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January 12, 2021 6:00 AM

There's not a single off note in 'That Old Country Music'

In his new story collection, Kevin Barry proves to be a master at evoking the landscapes of both western Ireland and the human heart; he seems to have an innate sense of why people do what they do.

by Michael Schaub

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January 10, 2021 6:00 AM

To adapt 'After the Rain,' artists cross all kinds of boundaries

A new graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor's story "After the Rain" sets straightforward art against scattered, skewed panels to produce a sense of primal struggle between order and chaos.

by Etelka Lehoczky

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January 9, 2021 8:34 PM

'Ambitious Girl' reminds kids: Your dreams are not a drawback

Activist and author Meena Harris, the niece of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, has written a children's book called “Ambitious Girl” in the hope that no young woman in the next generation will have her dreams characterized as a liability.

by Michel Martin

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January 9, 2021 7:00 AM

Ask a Bookseller: A master class on writing, reading — and life

Cat Bock of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn., recommended a brand-new work of literary criticism by George Saunders with a tempting subtitle indeed: “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life."

by Emily Bright

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January 9, 2021 6:52 AM

Love and hope are at the heart of 'The Prophets'

Robert Jones Jr.'s debut novel is a love story between two enslaved men on a Mississippi plantation. He says that it was very important for him to depict love and art in the midst of sorrow.

by Scott Simon

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January 8, 2021 1:37 PM

There will be books: James Comey sequel signals new wave of memoirs in post-Trump era

In former FBI Director James Comey's view, his obligation is not to the person or party who appointed him or even to the Department of Justice, but to justice itself.

by Ron Elving

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January 8, 2021 2:26 AM

Publisher cancels book by Sen. Hawley, citing his role in inciting Capitol attack

Simon & Schuster says it has decided not to publish a forthcoming book by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, citing the lawmaker's role in fomenting this week's "disturbing [and] deadly insurrection" at the U.S. Capitol.

by Scott Neuman

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January 7, 2021 9:00 AM

'Persephone Station' aims for the stars — and almost makes it

Stina Leicht's new sci-fi novel has a lot of moving parts: Space opera, rough-and-tumble mercenaries, corporate intrigue, alien first contact — and to her credit, she almost pulls it all off.

by Jason Sheehan

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January 6, 2021 9:16 AM

'The Liar's Dictionary' is a delight from A to Z

Eley Williamsdid her doctoral dissertation on "mountweazels," fake words inserted into dictionaries as copyright traps — and she builds on that in her charming debut novel, about an epic dictionary.

by Heller McAlpin

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