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| When the temperatures drop, get thee to a library | ||
| The Thread's Must-Read | ||
| "Operation Columba: The Secret Pigeon Service" by Gordon Corera Buy this book The back cover of “Operation Columba” features a quote promising that “once you’ve read this book you’ll never look at a pigeon disdainfully again.” That’s quite a promise to deliver on. While I can’t say that I will treat every pigeon with a deep reverence moving forward, I will say that this book kept me fascinated all week long. Not only am I wildly better-informed about the role that pigeons played in the World War II resistance movement, but so are the people in my immediate proximity. That’s because this is the kind of book that makes you pop your head out of the pages and ask people things like: “Did you know the British trained 16,000 homing pigeons? Did you know that pigeons are just doves by another name?” "Operation Columba" tells the story of how British intelligence plotted to drop these trained pigeons into German-controlled areas. The pigeon boxes bore messages, trying to recruit ordinary people as spies for the British. Yes, this happened: The pigeons were individually packed into boxes with small parachutes and dropped into the Belgian countryside. And yes, this worked: Farmers and shop owners and priests sent back crucial details about the German forces, all strapped to the legs of pigeons. Gordon Corera goes as deeply into the birds’ story as he does the stories of the people who set up and participated in these covert operations, often in the face of great danger. It’s a fascinating addition to the espionage canon, if you’re intrigued by this kind of historical quirk. -Tracy Mumford | ||
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| This Week on The Thread | ||
| "Florida," "Heartland" among National Book Awards finalists "This year, instead of just celebrating the best American literature, we're celebrating the best literature in America," said Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation. More | ||
| Listen: Minnesota author Leif Enger returns with "Virgil Wander" "Virgil Wander" by Leif Enger Buy this book "I've never written a character I didn't like," Leif Enger told host Kerri Miller at the Fitzgerald Theater. More | ||
| How a 19th century chemist took on the food industry with a grisly experiment "The Poison Squad" by Deborah Blum Buy this book Deborah Blum's book, "The Poison Squad," tells how Harvey Washington Wiley and his band of chemists crusaded to remove toxins, such as arsenic and borax, from food. How? By testing them on volunteers. More | ||
| A record of real life in Patagonia "False Calm: A Journey through the Ghost Towns of Patagonia" by Maria Sonia Cristoff Buy this book Argentine writer Maria Sonia Cristoff wants to be honest: She won't shape her subjects' narratives or take control of another person's story. This is both the book's great strength and great weakness. More | ||
| Three Pulitzer Prize-winning historians aim to put American politics in context In new books, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Joseph J. Ellis and Jon Meacham aim to contextualize or contrast the Trump era with the leadership of previous presidents. More | ||
| Light and dark, characters shine "Blanca & Roja" by Anna-Marie McLemore Buy this book Anna-Marie McLemore braids old bits of myth about swans and cursed sisters into a new, more inward-looking story that lets readers see just how hard it is to be a character in a fairy tale. More | ||
| Sounding the alarm about presidential power "President of War" by Michael Beschloss Buy this book In his new book, Michael Beschloss focuses on the lead-up to war. But a more pressing danger and indictment of presidential power may be the interventions not authorized by Congress. More | ||
| A string of little apocalypses "The Sadness of Beautiful Things" by Simon Van Booys Buy this book Almost every story in Simon Van Booy's bitter, tonic new collection is about the end of the world — or if not the world, then a world, whether it's a failing relationship or a dying family member. More | ||
| Using the supernatural to explore racism's real life horrors "Infidel" by Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell Buy this book The new comic series from creators Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell follows a young Muslim-American woman living in an apartment building haunted by evil entities that feed on racist hate. More | ||
| Turning familiar fairy-tale ideas upside down "Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa" Buy this book Kenji Miyazawa is a beloved author in Japan; this book — a reissue of a 1993 story collection — balances chaos and kindness, natural and supernatural to build a world in which anything might happen. More | ||
| Examing what it means to have justice "The Reckonings" by Lacy M. Johnson Buy this book Writing about topics as diverse as race, sexual assault, Hurricane Harvey, and art history, Lacy M. Johnson's essays are together a philosophy in disguise — equal parts memoir, criticism and ethics. More | ||
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