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.

As companies look to bring remote workers back to the office, a writer asks: Why?
Anne Helen Petersen is the co-author of a new book on the future of remote work. She says companies need to clearly know what goal they are pursuing when asking remote workers to come back in person.
Louise Erdrich's disquieting new novel will keep you on your toes
Set in a haunted Minneapolis bookshop over the course of one very momentous year, “The Sentence” is an ambitious novel, featuring a sinister ghost, a country in tumult and Erdrich's own shifting style.
Take a rom-com road trip in 'How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days'
K.M. Jackson's laugh-out-loud new romance follows a Keanu Reeves superfan who's heard her celeb crush is getting *gasp* married — and she has to stop him! But will she find real love along the way?
'Woke Racism': John McWhorter argues against what he calls a religion of anti-racism
Linguistics professor John McWhorter's new book is “Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America.” He says some in the U.S. cultural left have taken "anti-racism" efforts to extremes.
'The Waiting' is an unflinching portrayal of the separations caused by war
Keum Suk Gendry-Kim's harrowing new graphic novel was inspired by her own family history — Gendry-Kim was an adult when she discovered that she had a long-lost aunt possibly trapped in North Korea.
The New York Times bestselling author of “This Tender Land” joined host Kerri Miller at the Fitzgerald Theater for the finale of this season’s Talking Volumes.
Spies on opposite sides of the Cold War unite in 'From Warsaw With Love'
Reporter John Pomfret interviewed government officials and intelligence operatives and mined declassified files in Poland to write his fascinating story of the Polish-U.S. intelligence relationship.
How sexism and homophobia sidelined the National Women's Football League
The NWFL lasted from the mid-1970s to 1988, when it shuttered and the teams broke apart. A new book, Hail Mary, explores the league's origins and the problems that brought it to an end.
For poet Sonia Sanchez — at age 87 — there's more work to be done
For over 60 years, poet and activist Sonia Sanchez has helped redefine American culture, politics and education. She is this year's winner of the Gish Prize, a $250,000 lifetime achievement honor.