Books I read in 2010

Champlain's Dream: The European Founding of North America I started the year by reading this thorough biography of Samuel Champlain during my last semester at St. John Fisher. The author does an amazing job of unearthing Champlain, one of my favorite historical figures. I'm fascinated with Fischer's assertion that though there's been countless biographies of Champlain written over the years, that "the new scholarship of the early twenty-first century" allows more light than ever to be shone on this character due to today's archaeology, historical ethnography, archival methods, & the ability to correct old errors. One of the best books I've ever read, & it only confirms the fact that I love early Canadian history more than early US history.


George Eastman: A Biography As soon as I landed the job of my dreams at George Eastman House, I started reading this book (One of my profs at St. John Fisher was kind enough to give me his copy as a graduation present - thanks Father Graff!). As my job entails helping researchers & visitors get the info they need on Eastman & Kodak, this book has become my Bible. Brayer did an incredible job putting this book together (she spent ~8 years going through Eastman's correspondence). It was neat to honor her with the title of G.E. Honorary Scholar in October for her efforts.

The White and the Gold and Century of Conflict The White and the Gold came recommended to me by one of my history professors at Fisher, Professor, MacGregor, who knew I was a fan of Francis Parkman. The book takes a look at Canada's early history. It was neat to see another historian's take on the period. I followed the book by reading Century of Conflict, its sequel in the series. It focuses on the French & Indian Wars: my favorite historical topic. Can't wait to continue by reading the next book in the series in the future.

Francis Parkman: Heroic Historian Having such a respect for Francis Parkman's writings, I was eager to read the biography of the author himself. He was a fascinating man, & wrote his epic series 'France & England in North America' virtually blind. The amount of research he did is staggering, and he was the first person to write about the French & Indian Wars in their entirety because he was one of the first to travel to all the historical grounds to actually see in person where the events took place.

Sheperding A Child's Heart Parenting is one of the most natural things in the world, but it also requires a lot of work & reading up. The book focuses on directing our children's hearts, which as the Bible says, is the place from which behavior & actions flow. Yes it advocates spanking, but never in anger. All I know is that when we stick to these principles, it works. Highly recommended.

Celebrating the Church Year With Young Children and Talking With Your Child About the Church Year I love the different seasons of the church, and how they guide our spirituality and unite the global church - Much like the festivals & seasons in the Old Testament allowed God's people to reenact the works of God. Kids love rhythm and the patterns that it entails. These books offer ideas on celebrating the church seasons with kids. The first book is definitely worth reading & full of great ideas.

GI Joe: A Real American Hero As much as I love thick history books & books on theology/ecclesiology, I also enjoy a little dose of GI Joe comics every morning as I drink my coffee. What else can I say but great characters, good storytelling, & fond memories?

Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Horse and His Boy Before the Prince Caspian movie came out a couple years ago, Sarah & I read the book aloud to each other to reacquaint us with the tale from our childhoods. It made the movie version horrible to watch. The same will probably happen this time around. =)

Raising Faith Filled Kids Another great book on parenting. I think Christians from liturgical backgrounds/churches have more help/weight/power (searching for the right word here & not finding it) behind their guiding their kids in the Lord.

The Pioneers I reread James Fenimore Cooper's The Pioneers this fall. The first time I read the Leatherstocking Tales (the books featuring Hawkeye from Last of the Mohicans), I read them in order of the events taking place. This time around as I spread the books out, I'm gonna read them in the order they were written. This one's a neat tale on a frontier town in Upstate New York just after the Revolution.

Advent Conspiracy and The Gospel According to Jesus These books by Chris Seay challenge Christians to join God in his redemptive work instead of just focusing on morality. In the second book, Chris puts forth that Christians very much misunderstand the word 'righteousness.' When Christ admonishes us to seek first his Kingdom & righteousness, Chris interprets it as 'God's restorative justice.' Rather than Christians putting their primary focus on 'the rules,' which only leads us to break them, we are to see the brokenness around us & join God in fixing it. It's books like these that make me leap up inside and say, "If this is what Christianity is, I'm in." Sarah & I (along with our kids and my sister/brother-in-law) are making the decision to sponsor a child through Compassion International. For us & for our kids, we don't want poverty to be some abstract idea on the other side of the world. But helping and establishing a relationship with a child whose basic needs can easily be met for an affordable amount every month is something we can and want to do.