Select language, opens an overlay
  • General Recommendations
  • Staff-Created List

2024 Michigan Notable Books

Every year, the Library of Michigan selects up to twenty of the most notable books, either written by a Michigan resident or about Michigan or the Great Lakes. The selected books are honored in the year after their publication or copyright date. Each selected title speaks to our state's rich cultural, historical, and literary heritage and proves without a doubt that some of the greatest stories are found in the Great Lakes State. Michigan is rich in good writers and the Library of Michigan is proud to honor and celebrate this wonderful literary heritage each year with the Night for Notables and with the annual grant-funded authors' tour to libraries throughout the state. Michigan Notable Books is an annual program with roots stretching back to Michigan Week 1991. In 2004, the name changed from Read Michigan to Michigan Notable Books. In 2002, The Michigan Department of History, Arts, and Libraries took over Read Michigan and Michigan Week. In October 2009, The Library of Michigan went to The Michigan Department of Education, bringing the Michigan Notable Books program with it. The Michigan Notable Books program is sponsored in part by the Library of Michigan Foundation, Michigan Center for the Book, and Michigan Humanities. Donate online to the Library of Michigan Foundation to help support Michigan Notable Books.

Loutit District Library

20 items

  • In this 1950s coming-of-age story, two sisters are left reeling when their father is accused of being a member of the Communist Party. Bertha finds a haven with the All-American Girls Baseball League. Flossie finds herself in an unexpected…
    Book, 2023Grand Rapids, Michigan : Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, [2023] — INSPIR FINKBEINER ALL
  • In 1924, an orphan train passes through the Midwest, and Mercy, a teenage girl of mixed race, and a boy nicknamed Rope, who lost fingers in a factory accident, become virtual prisoners of Harlan and Estelle Nau. After facing abuse, Mercy and Rope…
    Book, 2023East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, [2023] — SMOLENS COL
  • Spanning several decades, Ghassan Zeineddine's debut collection examines the diverse range and complexities of the Arab American community in Dearborn. In 10 tragicomic stories, Zeineddine explores themes of identity, generational conflicts, war…
    eBook, 2023Tin House Books, 2023
  • "On the night of December 31, 1989-as the Berlin Wall is coming down, the Soviet Union is inching toward democracy, and anything seems possible-a down-on-his luck musician crashes a party and crosses paths with the accomplished and enigmatic young…
    Book, 2023Grand Rapids, MI : Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, [2023] — INSPIR BARTELS EVE
  • Great Women of Mackinac, 1800–1950 tells the dramatic history of 13 women leaders on Mackinac Island in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Their linked visions of family and community define this beautiful island in the western Great Lakes. In this…
    Book, 2023East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, [2023], ©2023. — 977.4923 C941g
  • "Traveling along the path of the Underground Railroad from Virginia to Michigan, from the Indigenous nations around the Great Lakes, to the Black refugee communities of Canada, In the Upper Country weaves together unlikely stories of love, survival,…
    Book, 2023New York : Viking, [2023] — THOMAS IN T
  • Michigan Rocks!

    a Guide to Geologic Sites in the Great Lakes State

    Brandes, Paul, 1974-
    Nearly the entire history of Earth is on display in Michigan, from 3.6-billion-year-old gneisses to potholes drilled by modern rivers. Michigan Rocks! guides you to 56 world-class geologic sites scattered from Isle Royale and the Upper Peninsula to…
    Book, 2023Missoula, Montana : Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2023. — 557.74 B817m
  • Pulp

    a Practical Guide to Cooking With Fruit : 215+ Sweet and Savory Recipes and Variations, Including a Baker's Toolkit

    Berens, Abra,
    Pulp is the beautiful follow-up to Abra Berens’s Ruffage and Grist, with more than 215 recipes and variations for using fruit grown in the Midwest in sweet and savory recipes to highlight seasonality and flavor. Pulp is a hardworking book of recipes…
    Book, 2023San Francisco : Chronicle Books, 2023. — 641.64 B489p
  • Strikers

    a Graphic Novel

    Phegley, Kiel,
    In Flint, Michigan, 1986, hockey--and life--keep handing Evan and Bobby losses, but together, they find reasons to keep taking the ice.
    Graphic Novel, 2023Minneapolis : Graphic Universe, [2023] — TW GN PHEGLEY
  • "In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance…
    Book, 2023New York : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2023. — PATCHETT TOM
  • With the rising number of missing Indigenous women, her family's involvement in a murder investigation, and grave robbers profiting off her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry takes matters into her own hands to solve the mystery and reclaim her people's…
    Book, 2023New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2023. — YA BOULLEY
  • The White Stripes

    Complete Lyrics 1997-2007

    White, Jack, 1975-
    The White Stripes Complete Lyrics documents Jack White’s words written for the duo he and Meg White formed in 1997 through the release of their final album in 2007. The multiple Grammy-winning group from Detroit helped define a generation and…
    Book, 2023Nashville, TN : Third Man Books, [2023] — 781.66 W582
  • Cinema Ann Arbor

    How Campus Rebels Forged a Singular Film Culture

    Uhle, Frank,
    Delving into almost 100 years of rarely glimpsed history, Frank Uhle melds interviews with 80 key people, deep archival research, and over 400 mostly unseen images into a vivid account of just how the history of motion pictures and the history of…
    Book, 2023Ann Arbor : The University of Michigan Press, 2023. — 791.43 U31c
  • The Rediscovery of America

    Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History

    Blackhawk, Ned,
    A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. The Rediscovery of America interweaves five centuries of Native and non‑Native histories, from…
    Book, 2023New Haven : Yale University Press, [2023], ©2023. — 973.0497 B628r
  • An Ordinary Man

    the Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford

    Smith, Richard Norton, 1953-
    For many Americans, President Gerald Ford was the genial accident of history who controversially pardoned his Watergate-tarnished predecessor, presided over the fall of Saigon, and became a punching bag on Saturday Night Live. Yet as Richard Norton…
    Book, 2023New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2023] — BIO FORD
  • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND GLAMOUR! “One of those rare emotionally intelligent books that are also fun reads… Going to keep readers turning pages late into the night.” –The New York Times “Ingenious…fresh and unpredictable.” –The…
    Book, 2023New York : Riverhead Books, 2023. — WILLIAMS MY M
  • Girls and Their Monsters

    the Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America

    Farley, Audrey Clare,
    For readers of Hidden Valley Road and Patient H.M., an “intimate and compassionate portrait” (Grace M. Cho) of the Genain quadruplets, the harrowing violence they experienced, and its psychological and political consequences, from the author of The…
    Book, 2023New York, NY : Grand Central Publishing, [2023] — 616.898 F231g
  • 1980s Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal. Here was where, surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and…
    Book, 2023New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2023. — BIO CHIN
  • In nine captivating short stories, R.S. Deeren presents a vivid portrait of life in the rural Thumb region of Michigan. With unflinching empathy, Deeren weaves together the colorful lives of landscapers, hunters, artists, parolees, retirees, and…
    Book, 2023Detroit, Michigan : Wayne State Univeristy Press, [2023] — DEEREN ENO
  • In Making Art in Prison: Survival and Resistance, Janie Paul introduces readers to the culture and aesthetics of prison art communities, and shares heart-wrenching, poignant, and often surprisingly humorous artists’ narratives. These powerful…
    Book, 2023Los Angeles, CA : Hat & Beard, [2023], ©2023. — 704.0869 P324m