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.

20 novels in 20 years: The recipe behind author David Housewright's private-eye series
David Housewright of St. Paul has received national recognition for his tales of murder and mayhem set in Minnesota. MPR News regional editor Euan Kerr talked with Housewright about his secret for keeping the same character interesting, book after book.
An overdue library book makes a return trip to the shelves — 119 years later
There are overdue library books. Then there's “An Elementary Treatise on Electricity,” which was last checked out in Massachusetts in 1904. It finally made it back after being spotted in West Virginia.
Rachel Louise Snyder's memoir is as beautifully complex as her life.
The award-winning author of “No Visible Bruises,” Rachel Louise Snyder returns to share her own story of childhood violence within within a fundamentalist evangelical sect.
Two new feel-good novels about bookstores celebrate the power of reading
Most novels set in bookshops are heartwarming paeans to bonds forged among readers. The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa are no exception.
Talking Volumes returns in 2023 for 24th season
The hit author series continues for a 24th season. Minnesota Public Radio and the Star Tribune are bringing back Talking Volumes in 2023, hosted by award-winning journalist and MPR News host Kerri Miller. Come join us at the Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul this fall for conversations with four new blockbuster authors.
Ask a Bookseller: 'On the Savage Side'
Aden Evosirch of the Winchester Book Gallery in Winchester, Va., recommends “On the Savage Side,” by Tiffany McDaniel. It is based on a true unsolved murder case in rural Ohio where six women, known as the Chillicothe Six, disappeared from the area in 2014 and 2015. Four were later found dead.