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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 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.

In 'This Tender Land,' writer crafts a Minnesota odyssey on the Mississippi

In 'This Tender Land,' writer crafts a Minnesota odyssey on the Mississippi

St. Paul writer William Kent Krueger tells MPR News host Tom Crann about “This Tender Land,” his new Depression-era novel of four orphans canoeing the Mississippi River to escape the cruelty of their Native American boarding school.
by Nick Scheffler

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'The Shadow King' is a gorgeous meditation on memory, war and violence

'The Shadow King' is a gorgeous meditation on memory, war and violence

Maaza Mengiste's new novel is set just before the second Italo-Ethiopian War, and follows a woman who becomes a guard to a "shadow king," a man impersonating exiled Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassie.
by Michael Schaub

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Patti Smith weaves between worlds real and imagined in 'Year of the Monkey'

Patti Smith weaves between worlds real and imagined in 'Year of the Monkey'

Smith's musical career sometimes threatens to overshadow her accomplishments in other creative fields, but every page in this book reminds us that she is an accomplished novelist, essayist and poet.
by Gabino Iglesias

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Tegan and Sara find pain — and unexpected joy — in 'High School'

Tegan and Sara find pain — and unexpected joy — in 'High School'

Music duo Tegan and Sara revisit their teen years and their early music in a new memoir and companion album. Listening back to the songs they wrote, Sara says: "I was struck by the joy in our voices."
by Terry Gross

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As personal challenge, writer makes climate change a mainstream literary topic

As personal challenge, writer makes climate change a mainstream literary topic

Writer Amitav Ghosh chided the literary world of writers, critics and readers to take climate change seriously and make it a central topic. While his new novel “Gun Island” does that, it’s also a page turner.
by Euan Kerr

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Navigating culture and crushes in 'Frankly in Love'

Navigating culture and crushes in 'Frankly in Love'

David Yoon's young adult debut follows Frank Li, a Korean American kid who concocts a plan to keep his strict parents from finding out that he's dating a non-Korean girl — what could go wrong?
by Scott Simon

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Motherless children make their own family in Ann Patchett's 'The Dutch House'

Motherless children make their own family in Ann Patchett's 'The Dutch House'

Patchett's new novel is a story of paradise lost, dusted with fairy tale. It follows two siblings who bond after their mother leaves the family home — an ornate mansion she always hated.
by Heller McAlpin

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A boy and a puppy come to each other's rescue in 'The Dog Who Lost His Bark'

A boy and a puppy come to each other's rescue in 'The Dog Who Lost His Bark'

“The Dog Who Lost His Bark” is a story in two halves, says author Eoin Colfer: "In the first half the boy heals the dog, and in the second half the dog heals the boy."
by Samantha Balaban

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