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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.

In Minneota, an empty chair for Bill Holm

In Minneota, an empty chair for Bill Holm

The funeral service in the southwest Minnesota town of Minneota brought together hundreds of people to say goodbye to author, musician and teacher Bill Holm.
by Mark Steil

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Talking Volumes: Michael Greenberg

Talking Volumes: Michael Greenberg

Michael Greenberg's teenaged daughter was overcome by a sudden psychosis. Greenberg chronicles her arduous treatment in a critcally-acclaimed memoir. The conversation was recorded before an audience at the UBS Forum on February 24.

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Remembering Bill Holm

Remembering Bill Holm

Essayist and poet Bill Holm, who was nationally known for his distinctly Minnesotan writing, died this week at age 65.

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Campaign in verse

Campaign in verse

Humorist Calvin Trillin's latest book of poems pokes fun at politics.

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Between the covers

Between the covers

Two veteran book critics have collaborated to recommend more than 600 books for women who love to read. Their aim was to create a list of books that reflect the different phases in women's lives, and the way that women read. Click on the title for a list of books from the show.

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All the president's books

All the president's books

Much has been made of President Obama's love of books, from his reading of Hemingway as a teenager to his study of biographies on Lincoln and FDR. Midmorning looks at other books that should be on the new president's reading list.

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Book picks and pans

Book picks and pans

Author and librarian Nancy Pearl offers her take on the best books of 2008.

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A father's tragedy shadows the son

A father's tragedy shadows the son

In his 2005 memoir, David Vann attempted to come to terms with his father's suicide by taking a voyage on a hopelessly unprepared boat. In his new novella and collection of short stories, "Legend of a Suicide," Vann comes back to the themes of loss and a father's legend that haunts his son.

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