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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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.

April 19, 2019 12:00 AM

Escaping death -- seven or eight times

Bookseller Carol Price recommends a novel about a woman whose near-death experiences just keep adding up.

by Tracy Mumford

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April 18, 2019 4:00 AM

Keillor's bookstore sold to a St. Paul native

Common Good Books in St. Paul has a new owner and a new name, "Next Chapter Booksellers."

by Euan Kerr

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April 17, 2019 12:00 AM

In 'Southern Lady Code,' Helen Ellis brings her hilarity to Southern manners

Amid disquisitions on the importance of thank-you notes and a hilariously graphic description of a mammogram, Ellis occasionally ventures into more weighty territory in her first work of nonfiction.

by Heller McAlpin

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April 17, 2019 12:00 AM

'The Problem of Democracy' looks at personality's role in U.S. leadership

A new book focuses on how the Adams father-son duo spent years abroad making a case for our young country -- yet both saw themselves rejected in favor of more charismatic and populist rivals.

by Scott Detrow

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April 17, 2019 12:00 AM

'Pickle's Progress' is a weird -- but secretly sweet -- journey

Marcia Butler's new novel centers on a drunken, bickering couple whose lives are turned upside down after a car crash. It's a deeply weird book that succeeds because of Butler's considerable charisma.

by Michael Schaub

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April 16, 2019 12:00 AM

'Late Bloomers' makes the case for patience in a culture focused on early success

Forbes magazine publisher Rich Karlgaard talks about the idea that early achievement is not necessary for lifelong success.

by Rachel Martin

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April 15, 2019 2:16 PM

Pulitzer Prizes honor journalists under threat with new crop of winners

Prize Administrator Dana Canedy is stepping behind the lectern Monday to deliver good news to distinguished journalists, authors, musicians, scholars and others ranging across 21 categories.

by Colin Dwyer

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April 15, 2019 12:00 AM

Biographer Robert Caro on fame, power and 'Working' to uncover the truth

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist was never interested in only telling the stories of famous men. Instead, he says, "I wanted to use their lives to show how political power worked."

by Dave Davies

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April 14, 2019 12:00 AM

Noah's wife gets a name in 'Naamah'

Sarah Blake's new book retells the biblical flood from the point of view of Noah's wife -- who never has a name in the Bible, but who nevertheless helped humanity (and all those animals) survive.

by Sacha Pfeiffer

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April 12, 2019 12:00 AM

Beyond crabgrass: A look at America's 'Radical Suburbs'

Amanda Kolson Hurley is well-acquainted with suburbia's many negative stereotypes. But in a new book, she asks us to take a look at what is possible in this realm when the human spirit is at its best.

by Etelka Lehoczky

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