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.

Author unravels her spy dad's life, one secret mission at a time
Keggie Carew grew up with her father's stories of parachuting into the jungle and working as a spy in Burma. She wasn't sure how much to believe until she started researching her new book, "Dadland."
"I wanted my characters to be respectable," LJ Alonge writes. "I wanted them to somehow escape the judgement they'd get for just being, the same kind of judgement I've gotten for just being..."
Sanity is slowly lost in 'Spaceman of Bohemia'
It's 2018 and a mysterious cloud has appeared between Earth and Venus. A Czech astrophysicist is sent to investigate. The only problem? Hanging on to his sense of reality while alone in space.