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.

November 26, 2021 12:00 PM

Kate Bowler on how to be fully, imperfectly, gloriously human

Kate Bowler is back with another bestseller. In her new book, “No Cure for Being Human,” she asks: How do you move forward with a life you didn’t choose?

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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November 23, 2021 6:11 AM

Ann Patchett reflects on love and relationships in new essay collection

Even when nominally about something else, the essays in “These Precious Days” are about the weight and grief of relationships. "I was asking what mattered most in this precarious and precious life."

by Annalisa Quinn

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November 23, 2021 5:00 AM

The white ghosts haunting Native Americans in 'The Sentence'

Louise Erdrich's novel turns the trope of the haunted Indian burial ground on its head with the story of a Native-run bookstore being visited by the ghost of a white woman obsessed with indigeneity.

by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler

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November 22, 2021 12:49 PM

Influential poet and bracing critic Robert Bly has died

Minnesota poet, teacher and men’s movement founder Robert Bly was a major figure in American literature for decades who criticized the Vietnam War. Bly died Sunday. He was 94.

by Euan Kerr

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November 22, 2021 12:20 PM

Former gun industry insider explains why he left to fight for the other side

“Gunfight” author Ryan Busse was once a rising star in the gun industry. But he became disillusioned after Columbine when, he says, the NRA began to use "fear and conspiracy and hatred" to boost sales.

by Dave Davies

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November 22, 2021 5:57 AM

Jon Hassler's memoir 'Days Like Smoke' details a small-town Minnesota boyhood

Long after Jon Hassler’s death in 2008, the memoir that he worked on in his last years is now being published. A celebration of "Days Like Smoke" is planned for next month at the Community Center in Plainview, one of the two small towns where Hassler spent his childhood.

by Euan Kerr

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November 20, 2021 3:40 PM

Ask a Bookseller: 'Tiny Americans' follows one family over 40 years

Bob Lingle of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Lakewood, N.Y., recommends the novel "Tiny Americans" by Devin Murphy. The book starts in 1978 and follows a family of five over the next 40 years.

by Emily Bright

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November 18, 2021 3:02 PM

Poetry inspired by a viral photo of drowned migrants wins the National Book Award

Photos of a father and his young daughter, drowned in the Rio Grande, underlined the deadly risks of the immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Martín Espada drew on them for his book “Floaters.”

by Bill Chappell

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November 17, 2021 12:25 PM

'1619 Project' journalist says Black people shouldn't be an asterisk in U.S. history

Nikole Hannah-Jones says the contributions of Black people are often left out of the American story. Her mission is to reframe U.S. history through the lens of slavery.

by Arun Venugopal

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November 17, 2021 10:30 AM

N. West Moss' new memoir centers on infertility and legacy

A memoir about heartache and healing, N. West Moss’ new book, “Flesh & Blood,” opens up a conversation with the millions of women who live with infertility and loss. Moss talked to host Kerri Miller on Friday about the book and her infertility journey.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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