Library of Michigan lists notable books for 2011, including UP title

Each year, exceptional books that focus on Michigan topics or authors are chosen by the Library of Michigan as the year's Notable Books.

For 2011, 20 books have been chosen that highlight Michigan people, places and events, by both first-time and long-time authors, on a range of topics from the Copper Country to the Detroit auto industry.

The book focusing most on the U.P. on the list is Mine Towns: Buildings for Workers in Michigan's Copper Country, written by Alison K. Hoagland and published by the University of Minnesota Press.

It explores the relationship between company management and working immigrants through the history of mining towns across the Copper Country. Hoagland researched the book thoroughly, using maps, architectural plans and historical photographs to show how mining companies literally shaped the physical being of mining towns, including the architecture and layout of churches, schools and homes.

Several more of the notable books have U.P. ties, including a story set on Mackinac Island in Apparition & Late Fiction: A Novella and Stories by Thomas Lynch. Michigan's lakes and landscapes are the setting for Freshwater Boys: Stories by Adam Schuitema, and Ernest Hemingway's ties to the state, including the U.P., are explored in Picturing Hemingway's Michigan by Michael R. Federspiel. U.P. readers also may find familiar ground in Sawdusted: Notes from a Post-boom Mill by Raymond Goodwin, who writes of his time working in a lumber mill in northern Michigan.

Other selections include a photo history of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, Chrysler's innovative but short-lived turbine car, the National Book Award winner for fiction, stories of immigration, working men and women, and wartime, and a biography of former governor John Swainson.

"For 10 years the Library of Michigan has honored books and authors promoting Michigan and Michigan's literary heritage and its people," says State Librarian Nancy Robertson. "The Michigan Notable Book program goes well beyond just this list of books. The program helps to promote the notion that bookstores, libraries and readers should spend time focusing on Michigan's rich literary culture and find ways to enjoy and champion the talent that can be found."

Each book on the list was published in 2010. They are available at the Michigan Library and Historical Center in Lansing, and also online. A full list of the 2011 Michigan Notable Books is also available online.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Nancy Robertson, Library of Michigan