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.

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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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.

February 20, 2023 11:11 PM

2022 Books We Love: Nonfiction

NPR's Books We Love is full of stories. The feature rounds up fiction and nonfiction of many different kinds, and it gives you lots of ways to find what you might love, too. Today, we're diving into the category of nonfiction and highlighting some of our favorite picks.

by Linda Holmes, Eric Deggans, Candice Lim, Rommel Wood and Jessica Reedy

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February 18, 2023 4:00 AM

Ask a Bookseller: 'River, Sing Me Home'

Yani Rodriguez of Copperfish Books in Punta Gordo, Fla., was quick to share her staff pick with Ask a Bookseller. She loves the historical fiction novel “River, Sing Me Home,” by Eleanor Shearer.

by Emily Bright

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February 17, 2023 12:00 PM

Minnesota author Shannon Gibney on her new speculative fiction memoir

How do you tell the story of your life when straightforward memoir isn’t enough? Shannon Gibney chose to get creative. The result is her new book, “The Girl I Am, Was and Never Will Be,” which uses both traditional memoir and speculative fiction to examine her life as a transracial adoptee.

by Kelly Gordon

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February 15, 2023 3:39 PM

Ask a Bookseller: The gothic horror retelling of a Grimm tale

“Juniper & Thorn” is a favorite of Hannah Peterson of the Inquiring Mind Bookstore & Café in Saugerties, New York.

by Emily Bright

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February 14, 2023 6:11 PM

From meet-cutes to happy endings, romance readers feel the love as sales heat up

Romance novel sales are surging, even as overall book sales experience their first decline in years. And no, fans are not embarrassed by their love of the genre.

by Elena Burnett, Juana Summers and Sarah Handel

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February 14, 2023 4:36 PM

Unlocking desire through smut; plus, the gospel of bell hooks

This week, we're asking: do the fantasies we read in romance novels say anything about what we want in our real-life relationships?

by Brittany Luse, Jessica Placzek, Liam McBain, Corey Antonio Rose and Veralyn Williams

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February 14, 2023 12:00 PM

From the archives: Shannon Gibney on 'Dream Country'

Minneapolis author Shannon Gibney just published her memoir. But it’s probably unlike any memoir you’ve read before. She’ll tell MPR News host Kerri Miller about it on Friday’s episode of Big Books and Bold Ideas. Until then, enjoy this 2018 conversation between Miller and Gibney when her second book, “Dream Country,” had just come out.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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February 13, 2023 5:00 AM

'Hijab Butch Blues' challenges stereotypes and upholds activist self-care

Lamya H's memoir is a study guide on Islam and a queer manifesto that follows them from a childhood a move to the U.S. through questions of faith, gender and sexuality.

by Ashlee Green

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February 10, 2023 12:00 PM

Best-selling authors on Big Books and Bold Ideas

This week on Big Books and Bold Ideas, we revisit three conversations MPR News host Kerri Miller had with young authors who hit the big time with their novels.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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February 10, 2023 7:40 AM

3 books in translation that have received acclaim in their original languages

On a Woman's Madness and Forbidden Notebook have been highly lauded in their original languages for decades but, like the more recent Black Foam, inaccessible to English readers — until now.

by Lily Meyer

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