Donors of significant sums to The Friends of the University of Michigan Library become members of the Asa Gray Society. University Commons, a residential community near Huron High School, is on Asa Gray Drive.

Why do they have Asa Gray in their name?

Because as
The University of Michigan by Wilfred Shaw recounts
“In July of [1838], Dr. Asa Gray was made a Professor of Botany and Zoology, the first professor to be appointed. He was contemplating a trip to Europe and was entrusted by the Regents with $5000 for the purchase of a library. This charge he performed to the great satisfaction of the Regents, sending back a collection of 3700 volumes in all the branches ordinarily taught at that time, including many books unobtainable in America. This task ended Professor Gray’s connection with Michigan. Practically all his long and distinguished career was spent as a professor in Harvard University.”

Asa Gray, 1810-1888 by A. Hunter Dupree covers the brief University of Michigan portion of Asa Gray's life and the rest of his life story.

John Vaillant has won a Governor General's Literary Award in the non-fiction category for his book, The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed. Described by the Governor General’s jury as the quintessential Canadian story, The Golden Spruce brings to life the story of a furious logger who destroyed a famous, beloved 300 year old tree on Queen Charlotte’s Island in 1997, outraging environmentalists and lumbermen alike.
The Governor General’s Literary Award, which comes with a $15,000 purse, is under the aegis of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Ann Arbor has dozens of lively book groups, some of which may need to fuel their fires and lengthen their lists this winter. If you don’t mind being slightly behind publishing trends, consider titles that were popular about a year ago. The library is likely to have more copies of these than of current bestsellers. One example is the 2004 book “Truth and Beauty: A Friendship,” by Ann Patchett. The book chronicles Patchett’s long-time friendship with writer Lucy Grealy "Autobiography of a Face”, and how that friendship changed over time. The writing is just as good and the story just as compelling as on the day the book was published.

Jeanne Birdsall has won the 2005 National Book Award in the Young People's Literature category. The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and Very Interesting Boy won the coveted award for this first-time author. It is the story of a widowed botany professor and his four daughters who spend a summer in the Berkshires.
A reviewer for School Library Journal said, "Problems are solved and lessons are learned in this wonderful, humorous book that features characters whom readers will immediately love, as well as a superb writing style. Bring on more of the Penderwicks!"

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

The Gettysburg Address:
Lincoln at Gettysburg: the Words That Remade America by Garry Wills
November: Lincoln’s Elegy at Gettysburg by Kent Gramm

The Battle:
Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears
Hallowed Ground: a Walk at Gettysburg by James M. McPherson

Michigan at the Battle:
The 4th Michigan Volunteer Infantry at Gettysburg: the Battle of the Wheatfield by Martin Bertera

A Multi-cultural View of the Battle:
The Colors of Courage: Gettyburg’s Hidden History: Immigrants, Women, and African-Americans in the Civil War’s Defining Battle by Margaret S. Creighton

Our first snow of the season is here; to me, that means that the holidays are rapidly approaching! In order to prepare and get yourself in the holiday mood, check out the library’s wide selection of holiday music CD’s. Here are a few titles that the library owns:

Bing Crosby’s Christmas Classics by Bing Crosby – This crooner sure can sing Christmas songs.

Holiday Times by Ella Jenkins – She sings a collection of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa songs, among others.

Last night, William T. Vollmann’s searing complicated epic, Europe Central, received the much-coveted National Book Award in the fiction category. The NBA judges described Vollmann’s 811 page masterpiece as…”heroic art, the writer’s courageous immersion in totalitarian ugliness to retrieve forgotten moral heroes…”

Vollmann, 46, won over four other formidable finalists:

E.L. Doctorow for The March
Mary Gaitskill for Veronica
Christopher Sorrentino for Trance
Renè Steinke for Holy skirts

Winners in the other categories of the 2005 National Book Awards are:

Young People’s Literature

Jeanne Birdsall for The Penderwicks – for more details on this title, watch the upcoming blog from Kidlit

Poetry

W.S. Merwin for Migration: New and Selected Poems

Non-fiction

Joan Didion for The Year of Magical Thinking

Mr. Vollmann considered himself such an underdog, given his competition, that, when presented with the National Book Foundation’s sculpture and check for $10,000, said, “I thought I would lose, so I didn’t prepare a speech.”

Are you ready for King Kong? More to the point, is Peter Jackson? This week Entertainment Weekly features a behind-the-scenes look at Jackson as he races to fully and convincingly render his CGI Kong before the December 14 release. Much (including Adrien Brody's career) rides on Jackson's success, but after a little history-making trilogy known as Lord of the Rings, you can bet your banana he'll pull it off. Meanwhile, place your hold on the digitally-remastered 1933 version of King Kong, left, or 1998's Mighty Joe Young (both on order). The original 1949 version of Mighty Joe Young will be here in December.

November 14 through November 20 is Children's Book Week. Try some folktales from around the world and celebrate with us. From Persia try Three Princes, or Rose's Smile.

This week actor Joaquin Phoenix walks the line as Johnny Cash in a a new film earning positive reviews across the board. Phoenix is a good choice to play the rough-hewn, emotionally-charged Man in Black, who allmusic.com calls "one of the most imposing and influential figures in post-World War II country music....He created his own subgenre, falling halfway between the blunt emotional honesty of folk, the rebelliousness of rock & roll, and the world weariness of country." Check out The Fabulous Johnny Cash, left, or last year's excellent Cash, a special tribute book from Rolling Stone magazine featuring new and old essays, plus a fascinating overview of Cash's life and detailed critical discography.