Nonfiction or fiction? An impossible choice.
The Thread's Must-Read
"A Guide for Murdered Children"by Sarah Sparrow
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Sarah Sparrow's new novel is part-murder mystery, part-fantasy. It follows homicide cop Willow Wylde, who takes a job in Detroit working cold cases. She becomes enveloped in a strange, metaphysical world built around the unresolved killings of children. It takes a while to learn the rules of this universe, but it's a satisfying read once you grasp them.
Sparrow is a nom-de-plume for an author who usually writes literary fiction, and you can tell with this novel. She is more interested in drawing characters, and in the resolutions of feelings, than the typical thriller read. (But for those thriller fans — it's not bloodless.) Readers with a thirst for revenge — like me — will be quenched.
-Stephanie Curtis
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Amid sex abuse scandal, Swedish Academy won't award literature Nobel this year It would mark the first time since World War II that the body failed to award the prestigious prize. Earlier this month, the Academy's permanent secretary quit over her handling of the allegations.
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Free Comic Book Day 2018: A guide to the best bets and the best avoided For the 10th year in a row, NPR's Glen Weldon reviews the 52 free comic books you'll be able to pick up in comics shops across the nation on Saturday.
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In Dave Eggers' new book, heroic kids do the heavy lifting "The Lifters" by Dave Eggers
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"The Lifters" takes some of today's grown-up economic concerns and folds them into a supernatural story for kids. Kids are "heroes in waiting," Eggers says; they just need a chance to prove it.
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"Your Black Friend" is back, with plenty to say "Your Black Friend" by Ben Passmore
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Ben Passmore expands on his popular self-published 2016 comic — also called "Your Black Friend" — in this new volume, jam packed with dense, brilliantly colored drawings and thoughtful reflections.
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A weird-but-true story takes flight "The Feather Thief" by Kirk Wallace Johnson
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Kirk Wallace Johnson's new book chronicles the real-life heist of 299 rare bird skins from Britain's Tring Museum in 2009. Maureen Corrigan says "The Feather Thief" reads like a "classic thriller."
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Questlove aims to save your brain: "Creativity might be in jeopardy" "Creative Quest" by Questlove
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The Roots bandleader and Renaissance man has a new book called "Creative Quest," in which he advises readers on how to consider creativity, how to pursue it and how to channel it.
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When Teddy Roosevelt went to the Amazon "The River of Doubt" by Candice Millard
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Bookseller Jinny Amundson pulls a good read from the backlist with a tale of adventure and Teddy Roosevelt.
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A snappy, enjoyable look at love's many splendors "My Ex-Life" by Stephen McCauley
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Stephen McCauley's new novel is a charming comedy of manners about second chances and fresh starts, full of zingers about eternal targets like divorce settlements and college admissions.
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The Thread Book Hour: Carter Meland and Terese Mailhot The Thread Book Hour features a duo of Native American authors. Carter Meland is the author of the short story collection, "Stories for a Lost Child," and Terese Mailhot's memoir is "Heartberries."
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A quick, horrifying descent into madness "Adjustment Day" by Chuck Palahniuk
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Chuck Palahniuk's new novel is a black-hearted satire that imagines an America in which angry men engineer a purge of everyone who's ever upset them — and then have to rebuild the country afterwards.
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Challenging masculinity — with love "A Lucky Man" by Jamel Brinkley
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Jamel Brinkley's brilliant new story collection is intent on recognizing what masculinity looks like — but also questioning our expectations of it, and criticizing the ways it can be toxic.
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John McCain makes an appeal for civility and humility "The Restless Wave" by John McCain
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The Arizona senator and former prisoner of war, dealing with the effects of brain cancer, writes in a forthcoming book about what contributes to toxicity in U.S. politics, predating the Trump era.
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