The Thread® - Books and Literary 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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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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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.

February 27, 2020 3:59 AM

In 'Minor Feelings,' Asian American racial trauma is laid bare

Cathy Park Hong's essays serve as a major reckoning, pulling no punches as the author uses her life's flashpoints to give voice to a wider Asian American experience, one with cascading consequences.

by Elise Hu

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February 26, 2020 6:00 AM

'Apartment' will stay with you, long after you shut the door

Teddy Wayne's new novel is a portrait of loneliness and male insecurity set against the backdrop of academia in the mid-1990s — and a precious, rent-stabilized apartment in Manhattan.

by Heller McAlpin

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February 26, 2020 5:11 AM

How a graphic novel resurrected a forgotten chapter in American history

In “Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga,” Native artists retell the events of a brutal massacre in pre-Revolutionary Pennsylvania and bring a painful history to life on the page.

by Jess Kung

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February 26, 2020 3:59 AM

'Hood Feminism' is a call for solidarity in a less-than-inclusive movement

Mikki Kendall reveals how feminism has failed to consider populations too often excluded from the movement's banner — and forgotten to weigh the breadth of issues affecting the daily lives of many.

by Ericka Taylor

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February 25, 2020 3:01 AM

'Facebook: The Inside Story' reveals a company made in its founder's image

Journalist Steven Levy's rich history of the social network traces Facebook's cascading crises to the worldview and early decisions of its founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

by Shannon Bond

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February 24, 2020 4:01 AM

'Supreme Inequality' makes a case that the top U.S. court has widened the wealth gap

Lawyer and journalist Adam Cohen explores five decades of Supreme Court opinions and comes to a rueful conclusion: These decisions have greatly exacerbated the space between rich and poor.

by Martha Anne Toll

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February 23, 2020 11:24 AM

Who should decide what books are allowed in prison?

"It's so important for people who are in prison to be able to have access to materials that give them hope and a reason to want to be part of society again, to want to engage, to see the future," says Rebecca Ginsburg of the Education Justice Project.

by Lee Gaines

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February 23, 2020 6:00 AM

In 'Foul Is Fair,' Lady Macbeth goes to prep school

Hannah Capin's new young adult novel is a modern-day retelling of “Macbeth” — centered on Lady Macbeth, now a high-schooler taking bloody revenge on the prep school boys who assaulted her at a party.

by Alethea Kontis

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February 22, 2020 7:46 AM

Survival of the friendliest: How our close friendships help us thrive

On average, people have only four very close relationships, author Lydia Denworth finds, and very few people can sustain more than six. But the effect of these few core relationships extends beyond our social lives.

by Elena Renken

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February 21, 2020 10:00 AM

Author Dina Nayeri on breaking down stereotypes of the refugee experience

Dina Nayeri fled the Iran revolution with her family when she was 8. In her new book, "The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You," she examines what it means to be a refugee.

by Kerri Miller and Jeffrey Bissoy

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