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.

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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.

Can higher education be saved from itself?
Brian Rosenberg, president emeritus of Macalester College, offers a candid assessment of American higher education in his new book: “Whatever It is, I’m Against It: Resistance to Change in Higher Education.”
The magic of Rose McGee’s sweet potato comfort pie comes to a children’s book
Minnesotan Rose McGee has served up thousands of her sweet potato comfort pies. Now, she's bringing the magic of that recipe to a younger audience in the form of a new children’s book called “Can’t Nobody Make a Sweet Potato Pie Like Our Mama!”
'The Last Fire Season' describes what it was like to live through California's wildfires
Recounting months spent dodging wildfires, writer Manjula Martin considers what it means to create a home in a place that is destined to burn, and to live "inside a damaged body on a damaged planet."
'You Only Call When You're in Trouble' is a witty novel to get you through the winter
Stephen McCauley's comic novel offers readers the gift of laughter as well as a more expansive image of what family can be. Book critic Maureen Corrigan says it was a perfect January read.
A caregiving memoir by Minnesota psychotherapist Emma Nadler explores how to adapt
“The Unlikely Village of Eden” is about learning to adapt when life doesn’t go to plan and how even though 53 million people are caregivers in the U.S., their reality is often ignored.
Ask a Bookseller: 'The Half-White Album'
John Hoffsis of Treasure House Books and Gifts in Old Town Albuquerque, N.M., recommends “The Half-White Album” by local author and musician Cynthia J. Sylvester.