The Thread® - Books and Literary 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.

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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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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 15, 2023 12:39 PM

Minnesota author: 'I wanted to bring Karachi alive for people' in debut novel

Nigar Alam has written a novel set in Karachi that spans decades following the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.

by Elizabeth Shockman

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August 14, 2023 12:30 PM

James McBride's 'Heaven & Earth' is an all-American mix of prejudice and hope

Set in a neighborhood where Blacks and immigrant Jews have lived next to each other for decades, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” is one of the best novels critic Maureen Corrigan has read this year.

by Maureen Corrigan

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August 12, 2023 8:00 AM

Ask a Bookseller: 'Horse'

Alden Graves of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt., says he generally avoids books about animals, but he's glad he made an exception for Geraldine Brooks’ novel “Horse.”

by Emily Bright

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August 10, 2023 3:21 PM

How much should a mother divulge to her daughters? Ann Patchett weighs it up

In the new novel “Tom Lake,” a mother bonds with her daughters who are home for the pandemic. But how much of her past is she expected to share?

by Manuela López Restrepo

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August 10, 2023 11:28 AM

Christian Cooper on what it means to be a Black man in the natural world

Christian Cooper was birdwatching in Central Park in 2020 when a white woman falsely accused him of threatening her. That incident went viral, pushed his work as a Black birder into the public eye, and led to his fantastic memoir, “Better Living Through Birding: Notes From A Black Man In The Natural World.”

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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August 9, 2023 2:30 PM

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.”

by Tonya Mosley

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August 9, 2023 2:00 PM

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.

by Cathy Wurzer and Ellen Finn

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August 9, 2023 11:54 AM

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.

by Mandalit del Barco

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August 5, 2023 10:22 AM

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.

by Kat Chow

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August 4, 2023 7:04 PM

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.

by Emily Bright

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