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Public Event

Heirloom Apple Tasting

Friday October 13, 2017: 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Westgate Branch: West Side Room
All Ages

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Blog Post

Michigan Fiction: Marlena

by eapearce

For those of us who have spent all or most of our lives in Michigan, Julie Buntin’s striking descriptions of a desolate, gray northern winter will strike a chord. Buntin lives in New York now, but she spent her formative years in northern Michigan, and this is the setting for her first novel, Marlena. The narrator of the story, Cat, has just moved to tiny Silver Lake, far up the western coast of the mitten, with her recently- divorced mother and older brother. The family struggles to make ends meet; Cat’s mother cleans houses for the wealthy tourists and her brother works nights at a plastics factory. Cat is lonely and unhappy, until she meets her next door neighbor, 17-year-old blonde, beautiful Marlena. As their lives become increasingly intertwined, Cat dives deeper into the dark world of addiction and illegal activity. An older Cat narrates portions of the novel, looking back on her time in Silver Lake with Marlena, and struggles to make sense of the beauty and tragedy she experienced there.

Set in 2006, in the early days of the opioid epidemic, the book is a fascinating and devastating testament to how easy it is to lose control. Buntin clearly writes from a place of experience and awareness, which allow the story to rise above others of its kind. Marlena, Cat, and the others who do what they must to survive in a bleak world that seems to have no future are not characters easily forgotten.

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Blog Post

Asparagus!

by potterbee

Asparagus season is in full swing in Michigan this time of year! Michigan asparagus season begins in late April-early May in the southwest corner of the state; it wraps up in late June in the north. A recent frost has slowed the initial harvest this season but since the majority of the asparagus crop is still protected underground, it will continue to pop up through the month of June. Asparagus is a member of the lily family, so it has very extensive root systems. It grows mostly along waterways and the roots can go as deep as twelve to twenty feet.

20 Michigan family farms harvest approximately 20 million pounds of asparagus on 9,500 acres of land. It takes four years for an asparagus field to fully mature; fields last for approximately 20 years.
A single asparagus plant can produce 25 or more spears over the 7-week harvest season. During the growing season, asparagus is harvested every day as the spears can grow two to three inches a day. Harvesting stimulates production, when a spear is cut, the plant sends up another shoot. Once the harvest is complete, the remaining spears are allowed to grow up and leaf out. These plants will grow up to six feet tall and, once leafed, will look like giant ferns. This fern is nurtured all summer and feeds the root system for the following year's harvest.

Learn more about this vegetable through many items found in our collection!

Oceana County, Michigan is known as the "Asparagus Capital of the World" for its high production of asparagus.The rich history is shared in the documentary Asparagus!.

Asparagus is one of the most nutritionally well-balanced vegetables in existence. The leading supplier among vegetables of folic acid and it offers a wide array of nutrients in significant amounts for a healthy diet. Find recipes in Vegetable literacy or Vegan brunch.

Asparagus can be crafty, The gourmet paper maker.

A little bit wacky and fun to read picture book story for kids is The Mighty Asparagus.

Learn to hunt this rich vegetable with Euell Gibbons classic Stalking the Wild Asparagus.

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Blog Post

Celebrate National Poetry Month with Michigan Poets!

by potterbee

April is National Poetry Month! There is a wealth of poetry written by many authors from Michigan offered in AADL's catalog. Some items are available to download from the catalog to be enjoyed instantly! Trumbull Ave. by Michael Lauchlan and Weweni by Margaret Noodin are available to download and also in the traditional paper bound form.

Local book sellers Bookbound and Literati Bookstore have author events still to come this month with poets from Michigan.

On Thursday, April 20 at 7:00 pm award-winning Michigan poets Zilka Joseph and M.L. Liebler will be reading poems at Bookbound.

Ann Arbor author Zilka Joseph has an MFA in Poetry from University of Michigan, and she currently teaches workshops, works as a manuscript coach and editor, and mentors writers in the Ann Arbor community. She has written several books of poetry including her most recent, Sharp Blue Search of Flame

M.L. Liebler is an internationally-known Detroit poet, Wayne State University professor and literary arts activist who founded The National Writer's Voice Project in Detroit and the Springfed Arts: Metro Detroit Writers Literary Arts Organization. He has authored and edited numerous books including I Want to Be Once.

At Literati on April 21st, local poets Keith Taylor, Alison Swan, and Raymond McDaniel will be reading from their various collections, in addition to sharing some of their favorite poems, written by poets of the present and past. If the World Becomes So Bright by Keith Taylor is another instant pdf download available from the AADL catalog.

Search the catalog or the public lists to find more local poetry and enjoy a poem a day all month long!

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Lectures & Panel Discussions

Kit Homes of Ann Arbor: a Historical Tour

Thursday June 8, 2017: 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

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Exhibits

African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County Living Oral History

Tuesday March 21, 2017: 9:00am to Thursday April 27, 2017
Malletts Creek Branch: Exhibits

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Lectures & Panel Discussions

Designing Landscapes With Native Plants with Drew Lathin of Creating Sustainable Landscapes, LLC

Tuesday May 9, 2017: 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Westgate Branch: West Side Room

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Blog Post

2017 Michigan Notable Books

by Sara W

The Library of Michigan has announced with 2017 winners of the Michigan Notable Book Award - an honor highlighting books celebrating Michigan people, places, and events.

This year's 20 award winners include Beer Money: A Memoir of Privilege and Loss by Frances Stroh, a recollection of a city, an industry and a dynasty in decline, and finding a way out, Detroit Resurrected: To Bankruptcy and Back by Nathan Bomey, which tells the story of Detroit's financial ruin, backroom intrigue and political rebirth, and Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball and the Secret Society that Shocked Depression-era Detroit by Tom Stanton, a thrilling true crime story.

The list features fiction too, such as The Charm Bracelet, Viola Shipman's story of love, family and the importance of connectivity, it covers generations of Michigan history and will resonate with anyone who has enjoyed the beauty of summers in northern Michigan, Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser, about a fearless teen facing the wasteland of addiction amid the isolation of the Upper Peninsula, and The Last Good Girl by Allison Leotta, the thrilling latest entry in her legal suspense series.

There's something for everyone on this list - whether you're interested in travel, classic cars, biology, poetry, or architecture.

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Public Event

Nature Walk at Argo Nature Area

Thursday September 28, 2017: 6:00pm to 7:30pm

All Ages