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.

July 11, 2019 12:00 AM

Enter the quarantine around 'Wilder Girls' at your own risk

Rory Power's debut novel combines creeping, corrupting body horror with the intense bonds between teenage girls at an isolated school for a post-apocalypse story that's fresh, horrible and beautiful.

by Caitlyn Paxson

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July 10, 2019 2:00 PM

A return to America's Eden

He was the personal doctor of both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and the surgeon behind America's first botanical garden, which he planted for medicinal purposes. But most people have never heard of David Hosack.

by Stephanie Curtis and Kelly Gordon

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July 10, 2019 7:32 AM

The Five: A dancing bird, a beach read and an anthem for losers

MPR senior producer Stephanie Curtis lists five things you should read, watch, listen to or experience.

by Stephanie Curtis

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July 10, 2019 12:00 AM

Girls captured by Boko Haram brought into focus in 'Beneath the Tamarind Tree'

Former CNN journalist Isha Sesay argues that the Nigerian government, the media and the public have failed the 276 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by the terrorist group five years ago.

by Lily Meyer

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July 10, 2019 12:00 AM

'Saturday Night Ghost Club' celebrates the wonders and horrors of being a kid

Craig Davidson's new novel follows a group of kids through a strange summer of hunting urban legends -- it's a coming-of-age story that's also about loss, particularly what we lose when we grow up.

by Jason Heller

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July 9, 2019 12:00 AM

Smart and propulsive 'Copperhead' asks: Can you outrun your family's sins?

Alexi Zentner's new novel follows a high school football star's efforts to separate himself from his racist family. It's an unsparing story about race, class and the limits of individual possibility.

by Maureen Corrigan

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July 9, 2019 12:00 AM

In 'For the Good of the Game,' Bud Selig tells of the MLB steroid era

The baseball commissioner's charming, informative memoir is about the best you can hope to read from a powerful professional sports insider -- even if Selig is too defensive on steroids.

by Scott Detrow

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July 9, 2019 12:00 AM

In 'The Book of Collateral Damage,' an accounting of what Baghdad lost

The novelist and poet Sinan Antoon, raised in Iraq and now living in New York, returned home following the 2003 U.S. occupation. That experience inspired his new work of fiction.

by Steve Inskeep

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July 9, 2019 12:00 AM

'The Vagabonds' details the publicity-encouraged road trips of Edison and Ford

Jeff Guinn weaves in a portrait of America's burgeoning love affair with the automobile. But his book rests heavy on the men's positive attributes, while shying away from their "unfortunate flaws."

by Camila Domonoske

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July 8, 2019 2:00 PM

The power of patience in a world infatuated with early success

Author Rich Karlgaard argues that we need a late bloomer revolution.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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