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.

Sign Up for The Thread® Newsletter

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.

'Once and Forever' turns familiar fairy-tale ideas upside down
Kenji Miyazawa is a beloved author in Japan; this book -- a reissue of a 1993 story collection -- balances chaos and kindness, natural and supernatural to build a world in which anything might happen.
Deborah Blum's book, 'The Poison Squad,' tells how Harvey Washington Wiley and his band of chemists crusaded to remove toxins, such as arsenic and borax, from food. How? By testing them on volunteers.
'Infidel' uses the supernatural to explore racism's real life horrors
The new comic series from creators Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell follows a young Muslim-American woman living in an apartment building haunted by evil entities that feed on racist hate.