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.

A poet pieces together an uncertain past in 'Memoir of a Kidnapping'
When Shane McCrae was almost 4 years old, his maternal grandparents, who were white supremacists, took him from his father, who is Black. His new memoir is “Pulling the Chariot of the Sun.”
Lake Superior's shipwrecked history on full display in 'Too Much Sea for their Decks'
While the Great Lakes have been vital to the American economy, they’ve also shown the ships — and the crews of people on them — harrowing, sometimes life-threatening storms.
Jamie Lee Curtis' graphic novel shows how 'We're blowing it with Mother Nature'
This project was motivated by the climate crisis: "We are heading into a very, very dangerous place," Curtis says. The story explores the environmental decisions one generation makes for the next.
Fire devastated this NYC Chinatown bookshop — community has rushed to its aid
Yu & Me Books was a fairly new business when a fire caused substantial damage to the shop. Now, owner Lucy Yu is working to repair not just the physical bookstore but the community around it as well.
Ask a Bookseller: 'Kala' is a rip-roaring thriller
Matt Nixon of A Capella Books in Atlanta, Ga., has been eagerly awaiting publication of Colin Walsh's debut novel “Kala,” which he says is both an intricate character study and rip-roaring thriller.
Ask a Bookseller: 'Less'
Melodie Edwards of Night Heron Books & Coffeehouse of Laramie, Wyo., recommends “Less” by Andrew Sean Gree, where the protagonist flees a broken heart — and travels the world — by accepting every conference and literary event invitation he can pull together.
In 'Family Lore,' award-winning YA author Elizabeth Acevedo turns to adult readers
A winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature is out with a debut novel for adults. Elizabeth Acevedo's “Family Lore” is about sisterhood and memory in a Dominican-American family.