Your book tower is about to reach avalanche proportions
The Thread's Must-Read
Booksellers share their favoritesTomorrow is Indie Bookstore Day, a holiday celebrated across the country by the voracious readers among us who can't resist the pull of a bookshop. You know who you are — the people who could spend hours lost in the aisles, who have to make bargains with themselves: I'm just going to get one book this time...
For the last few years, I've tried to hit as many of my local bookstores as possible on Indie Bookstore Day. My record is 11 in one day . (Lucky for me, the Twin Cities are so packed with bookstores, you can hit 11 and still be home for dinner.) And every year, I compile reading recommendations from those magical folks behind the counter — the booksellers who've read everything and can recommend just the right book.
Their full list of recommendations is available on The Thread, but here's one to get you started. Prudence Johnson, a bookseller at Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, recommends Kristin Hannah's "The Great Alone":
"Sometimes a day belongs to a book. You don't know it when you wake up, but you pick up the book and eventually it becomes obvious that you aren't going to do ANYTHING but read it to its conclusion. Eat, maybe, but that's it. You will lose yourself in this one."
If you pick up the perfect book this weekend, let us know what you got! Tweet us @TheThreadMPR.
-Tracy Mumford
 |
Indie Bookstore Day: Where to go, what to read Booksellers from 29 stores share their must-reads of the moment. Plus: A map of bookstores around Minnesota for you to visit.
More
2018 Minnesota Book Award winners announced The annual celebration honored everything from children's books to book arts projects.
More
If the Civil War ended with zombies "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
Buy this book
Bookseller Jessica Cox recommends a novel that imagines an alternate history, where the dead rose up at the Battle of Gettysburg, triggering a zombie apocalypse.
More
3 decades old and sadly still relevant "How to Suppress Women's Writing" by Joanna Russ
Buy this book
This collection of essays by novelist and scholar Joanna Russ was first published in 1983 — but it reads as if it might've come out last week. "Get angry; then get a reading list," says NPR's critic.
More
How "lone wolf" terrorists are really part of a pack "Bring The War Home" by Kathleen Belew
Buy this book
Kathleen Belew's new book explores the impact of the Vietnam War on America's white power movement; Belew says that movement was behind a lot of domestic terror attacks attributed to "lone wolves."
More
The case for letting the mind wander "The Art of the Wasted Day" by Patricia Hampl
Buy this book
Patricia Hampl's sharp new book argues that daydreaming is a vital part of life. Maureen Corrigan says, after reading it, "you'll understand more of what makes life worth living."
More
Killer robots, dogged gumshoes ... and a very important cat "Head On" by John Scalzi
Buy this book
John Scalzi returns to the world of "Lock In" — where people incapacitated by a strange disease can re-enter the world through robot avatars — for a murder mystery that turns on a cat named Donut.
More
Autonomous weapons would take warfare to a new domain, without humans "Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War" by Paul Scharre
Buy this book
Former special operations agent Paul Scharre helped create U.S. military guidelines on autonomous weapons. His new book, "Army of None," looks at the advances in technology, and the questions they raise.
More
Muggles rejoice: "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is now on Broadway The play, co-written by J.K. Rowling, opened on Sunday and picks up where the last novel left off, with Harry sending his son off to Hogwarts.
More
"Beneath a Ruthless Sun," cruelty and injustice burn hot "Beneath a Ruthless Sun" by Gilbert King
Buy this book
Gilbert King returns to Lake County, Fla., in his new book, which tells the tangled story of a rape accusation, a racist sheriff, and a mentally disabled white man railroaded and stuck in an asylum.
More
In new book, Alex Wagner climbs the tangled branches of her family tree "Futureface" by Alex Wagner
Buy this book
The CBS News contributor found that her lack of a defined ethnic category gave rise to a sense of loneliness.
More
The consequences of apathy "Red Clocks" by Leni Zumas
Buy this book
Author Leni Zumas explores what it would be like if everyone gave up the fight for reproductive rights.
More
Poetry Friday: Three doses To celebrate National Poetry Month, The Thread is showcasing three poems from local independent publishing houses every Friday.
More
