The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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.

August 30, 2018 9:33 AM

'Gross Anatomy' turns humor on taboos about the female body

Author Mara Altman got tired of hiding her hairy, sweaty self from the world, and set out to reframe the shame in her latest book of essays -- part memoir, part scientific exploration, part manifesto.

by Ailsa Chang and Alyssa Edes

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August 29, 2018 8:48 AM

'The Air You Breathe' is a glorious, glittery saga of friendship and loss

Frances de Pontes Peebles' new novel about two women in Brazil -- and later Hollywood -- who take the music world by storm can sometimes slip into corniness, but it's a genuinely exciting read.

by Lily Meyer

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August 29, 2018 12:49 AM

Understated and over-frank, 'French Exit' is just the right amount of funny

Patrick DeWitt's new novel is a sparkling dark comedy about an Upper East Side society matron and her large adult son (and their cat) who take off for Paris to escape financial and social ruin.

by Heller McAlpin

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August 28, 2018 12:00 AM

'Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret': A woman who watched the throne

Craig Brown's new biography of Queen Elizabeth's glamorous and scandalous younger sister documents "a life which sort of went off the rails," he says.

by Melissa Block

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August 28, 2018 12:00 AM

'Ohio' is a wild, angry, devastating debut

Stephen Markley's novel follows four friends, each with their own baggage, who return to their home town on the same night, but for different reasons -- leading to an explosive moment of violence.

by Michael Schaub

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August 27, 2018 12:00 AM

'Chesapeake Requiem' chronicles life on an endangered island

Tangier Island, in the Chesapeake Bay, has been home to a small, self-reliant community of watermen for centuries -- and now climate change is threatening to swamp the island and its way of life.

by Petra Mayer

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August 26, 2018 12:00 AM

The connections between sci-fi and David Bowie

Critic and author Jason Heller's new book traces the considerable influence of David Bowie on the science-fiction inflected music of the 1970s, from "Space Oddity" to the glittery glory of Funkadelic.

by Petra Mayer

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August 25, 2018 12:00 AM

In 'Red, White, Blue,' high peaks and low blows

Lea Carpenter's new novel combines literary sensibility with genre readability, for a dark spy thriller about a young woman finding out all kinds of strange truths about her father's past in the CIA.

by Bethanne Patrick

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August 25, 2018 12:00 AM

'A River of Stars' is an Asian-American, 'pregnant Thelma & Louise'

Vanessa Hua's debut novel follows two women at a secret California maternity center where rich Chinese send expectant mothers to give birth to U.S. citizens. Then they run away.

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August 24, 2018 2:54 PM

'The Wedding Portrait' explains activism for a young audience

Innosanto Nagara first built a following with "A is for Activist." His newest children's book opens with the story of a couple who decides to get married in the middle of a protest.

by Tracy Mumford

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