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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.

Choose a book to read to your barber, he'll take a little money off the top

Choose a book to read to your barber, he'll take a little money off the top

A great way for kids to brush up on reading skills? Why, reading to the barber, of course. That's the idea at one barbershop in Ypsilanti, Mich. Oh, and in Houston, Dubuque, Iowa, and Columbus, Ohio.
by Jennifer Guerra

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In 'Singing Bones,' an artist recasts the Grimm tales -- literally

In 'Singing Bones,' an artist recasts the Grimm tales -- literally

Illustrator Shaun Tan puts his skills to a new test in "The Singing Bones." He's taking the familiar Grimm fairy tales and condensing each one down to a single, wordless photo of one of his sculptures.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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A cookbook for healthy eating -- in prison

A cookbook for healthy eating -- in prison

Behind bars, it takes ingenuity, other prisoners and a little help from the commissary to approximate a proper diet. That's what rapper Prodigy of hip-hop's Mobb Deep learned after going to prison.
by Tove Danovich

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Growing up as a bank robber's daughter in 'Bandit'

Growing up as a bank robber's daughter in 'Bandit'

Kids eventually realize their parents are real people, says author Molly Brodak. But in her new memoir, she talks about another sort of realization: That her father was dishonest, and a criminal.

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Talking Volumes: Gloria Steinem, 'My Life on the Road'

Talking Volumes: Gloria Steinem, 'My Life on the Road'

Activist, journalist and women's rights leader Gloria Steinem speaks about her new memoir, "My Life on the Road," at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.

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Here are the 2016 National Book Award finalists

Here are the 2016 National Book Award finalists

Minnesota author Kate DiCamillo, Colson Whitehead and Jacqueline Woodson are just three of the authors on the shortlists for the National Book Awards. The 20 books still in contention for the prizes were unveiled Thursday.
by Colin Dwyer

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