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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.

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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.

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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.

Anna Quindlen on Talking Volumes

The author of several books and a popular magazine column talks with Katherine Lanpher about her novel, Blessings.

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Pulitzer fiction winner talks about her newest work

Jhumpa Lahiri chronicles what it's like to be part of two cultures, American and Indian. Her first collection of short stories won acclaim and built anticipation for her next work, about a second-generation Indian-American.

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Anne Lamott talks about her bestselling novel

Anne Lamott hit The New York Times bestseller list with Blue Shoe, now out in paperback. She has won a popular following with her mixture of religious faith and real life miseries and pleasures.

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The saga of Saul and Patsy

Minnesota native Charles Baxter talks about his new novel, Saul and Patsy, more on the life of two characters from Baxter's short stories written over the past 20 years.

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Anna Quindlen: a Talking Volumes interview

Author and columnist Anna Quindlen kicks off the new season of Talking Volumes. She joins Katherine Lanpher to talk about Blessings, a chronicle of an unusual family.

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A new biography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin's belief in civic duty and self-reliance helped shape an American ethic. A new biography illuminates this energetic, complicated forebear.

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A Q&A with Chimamanda Adichie

Chimamanda Adichie discusses her career and her novel, "Purple Hibiscus."

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Head to toe history of the human body

A new look at the history and science of the human body examines the body of knowledge, or what we know about what we are.

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