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.

March 20, 2021 8:26 AM

'A Beginner's Guide To America' shows us the States through new eyes

Roya Hakakian was a teenager when she came to the United States from Iran. She says she hopes her book will help native-born Americans see all the small signs of democracy they don't usually notice.

by Scott Simon

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March 20, 2021 7:00 AM

Ask a bookseller: A picture book about recognizing value where others don’t

Zsamé Morgan travels across Minneapolis and St. Paul with her bookmobile, Babycake’s Book Stack. She is excited to spread the word about the picture book “Daisy” by Jessixa Bagley, which was published at the start of March.

by Emily Bright

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March 20, 2021 6:00 AM

'Firekeeper's Daughter' forges a new path between cultures and genres

A contemplative exploration of existing between two cultural identities meets fake relationship romance meets backwoods thriller in this powerhouse YA debut from Ojibwe author Angeline Boulley.

by Caitlyn Paxson

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March 19, 2021 11:26 AM

Talking Volumes: A conversation with writer N. Scott Momaday

Award-winning novelist and poet N. Scott Momaday cultivated a boundless imagination as a boy exploring the vast landscape of the American Southwest on horseback. He joined host Kerri Miller for Talking Volumes: Talking Race, a collaboration between MPR and the Star Tribune.

by Kerri Miller

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March 18, 2021 4:59 PM

'Shooting Midnight Cowboy' turns an eye to a dark, problematic masterpiece

John Schlesinger's flawed drama, the only X-rated film to win an Oscar for best picture, made Jon Voight a star and solidified Dustin Hoffman's status as one of his generation's greatest actors.

by Michael Schaub

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March 17, 2021 12:32 PM

Kazuo Ishiguro draws on his songwriting past to write novels about the future

The Nobel Prize-winning novelist says he honed his skills earlier in his career "as a writer of songs." Ishiguro's new book, Klara And The Sun, is set in the future and has an A.I. narrator.

by Terry Gross

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March 17, 2021 11:22 AM

We have much to learn from 'A Place Like Mississippi'

W. Ralph Eubanks' new book examines Mississippi's mighty contributions to American literature, and what writers like Eudora Welty and Jesmyn Ward can teach us about broader national issues.

by Mary Louise Kelly

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March 17, 2021 11:19 AM

In Amazon's shadow, an America divided in search of 'Fulfillment'

ProPublica's Alec MacGillis has written an economic history of the country, shaped by stories of people living and working in Amazon's shadow as their home cities and states transform around them.

by Alina Selyukh

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March 17, 2021 9:07 AM

The age of automation is now: Here's how to 'Futureproof' yourself

New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose says we've been approaching automation all wrong. "We should be teaching people ... to be more like humans, to do the things that machines can't do," he says.

by Dave Davies

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March 17, 2021 8:21 AM

An author replies to the unspeakable in her 'Elegy' for lynching victim Mary Turner

Using original illustrations, archival documents and handwritten text, Rachel Marie-Crane Williams memorializes one black woman, and 10 men, who were killed by white residents in Georgia in 1918.

by Etelka Lehoczky

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