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.

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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.

'Strange Practice:' The doctor is in
In "Strange Practice," Vivian Shaw kicks off a new series about Dr. Greta Helsing, descendant of the famous Professor Abraham Van Helsing and general practitioner to the ghouls and ghasts of London.
A veteran TV news anchor pens a prescient novel in 'Amanda Wakes Up'
Alisyn Camerota's book is about a political newcomer fresh from Hollywood facing off against a female senator. But 2016 similarities aside, the CNN anchor says she wrote it long before the election.
Yes, some comics are for kids -- and they're big business
What's the best way to get people reading comics? Hook 'em young. And comics for early readers are booming -- even big publishers like DC, famed for grim and gritty, are getting in on the action.
Inside the 'Shakespearean irony' of Trump and Bannon's relationship
Author Joshua Green says that although Steve Bannon was instrumental to Donald Trump's election, it now appears that the president lacks the ability to implement Bannon's nationalist vision.