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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.

For Alix E. Harrow, writing 'Starling House' meant telling a new story of Kentucky

For Alix E. Harrow, writing 'Starling House' meant telling a new story of Kentucky

Alix E. Harrow's Starling House depicts a dying, fictional coal town's horrors and dark past. Harrow joins a long tradition of authors writing Gothic fiction as a way to process the ills of society.
by Kalyani Saxena

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Michael Connelly, Nikki Grimes, Judy Blume and other authors unite against book bans

Michael Connelly, Nikki Grimes, Judy Blume and other authors unite against book bans

During what the ALA is calling Banned Books week, more than a dozen high-profile authors are taking a stand against censorship. Author Michael Connelly alone has donated $1 million to the cause.
by Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

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'Eve' author says medicine often ignores female bodies. 'We've been guinea pigs'

'Eve' author says medicine often ignores female bodies. 'We've been guinea pigs'

Author Cat Bohannon says there's a "male norm" in science that prioritizes male bodies. Female bodies have been left out of countless clinical studies, and research is only just starting to catch up.
by Tonya Mosley

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Ask a Bookseller: 'The Blue Bear'

Ask a Bookseller: 'The Blue Bear'

Tori Weaver of Rainy Retreat Books in Juneau, AK, recommends the memoir "The Blue Bear: A True Story of Friendship and Discovery in the Alaskan Wild," by Lynn Schooler.
by Emily Bright

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'Sparks' author Ian Johnson on Chinese 'challenging the party's monopoly on history'

'Sparks' author Ian Johnson on Chinese 'challenging the party's monopoly on history'

Xi Jinping and China's ruling Communist Party have displayed a dogged obsession with controlling the historical narrative. But there's a group of underground historians fighting back.
by John Ruwitch

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A young girl runs from Jamestown in Lauren Groff's new book, 'The Vaster Wilds'

A young girl runs from Jamestown in Lauren Groff's new book, 'The Vaster Wilds'

Lauren Groff’s new novel is a survival story, in the vein of “Robinson Crusoe,” that swings from brutality to ecstasy as a young girl runs away from the desolation of Jamestown through the early American wilderness.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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Oh Bother! Winnie, poo and deforestation

Oh Bother! Winnie, poo and deforestation

Now that Winnie-the-Pooh is in the public domain, it's a free-for-all. In “Winnie-the-Pooh: The Deforested Edition,” the trees have are all gone. The book is by toilet paper company Who Gives A Crap.
by Elizabeth Blair

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