I have not pursued blogging/writing for quite some time. As often happens, different competing concerns and priorities pushed this out of the picture. To kick off my writing (slowly) I wanted to do a roundup of my reading from last year. This is the first part (my first 12 books) and I will finish the rest in a second post.

With each book I will give the context for why I chose it, a brief pros/cons review, and if needed a value/reason you should read it section. I will not include authors but do plan to link to each book.

Book 1 – Artemis Fowl #1 – 4/5 Stars
This book was one we enjoyed as a family read-aloud through an audiobook format. We borrowed it from the library. I had always heard it was a classic middle grade story and I had hoped the kids would enjoy it as well.

Pros: The story is fun, the characters are engaging, and the world had enough depth to be interesting. The conclusion was satisfying and the content of the story had something for kids and adults.

Cons: The language felt more inentionally crass than necessary and it came up enough to make it a 4/5 instead of a 5/5. It was on the ede of being too much for my kids and was disappointed I had to even grapple with that.

Book 2 – The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women – 3/5
I enjoy Viking history and saw that the author had the interesting goal of discovering the role women had in Viking society. The author does not take an obvious agenda into the book other than real findings correcting views of women that were not based on the evidence we find.

Pros: Intriguing information and written in a narrative format. This narrative format helped in many points (but did not always help). Lots of good content on Viking myths and history.

Cons: Sometimes a bit slow and confusing in where you were located historically due to the narrative.

Book 3 – Why is My Teenager Feeling Like This? A Guide for Helping Teens through Anxiety and Depression – 5/5
I purchased this to help equip me in working with students at Northern Discovery Academy. It was intended to be a book that could be also an equipping resource for our staff. This book delivered.

Pros: Short, concise, and packed with caring nuance and balance in a conversation that can be done poorly on all sides of the issue. The book is written to equip and offer help to parents and leaders seeking to help kids.

Cons: Not a single one that I can remember.

Book 4 – Believing is Seeing – 4/5
This book began a more detailed look into how science continues to point scientists to God and not away. But, it also grapples with the reality of scientism and the scientific community actively suppressing scientists voices and their dissenting opinions.

Pros: Accessible. Revealing of the scientific community. Engaging arguments for design.

Cons: The only con is that at times it felt longer than necessary due to his personal narrative and reflections taking up more space than I felt was needed. Also, his arguments regarding the failures of Aristilian logic were not practical or that pursuasive.

Book 5 – The Tech-Wise Family – 4/5
This book covered how Andy Crouch handled technology in his family and the principles he hopes you take into your family. The best part of this book was the conversations it prompted between Caiti and I about what we wanted to start doing in our family.

Pros: Lots of great principles.

Cons: Like with all books of this nature his own examples/approach sometimes went further or not far enough depending on your personality, posture, and perception of this issue going in. Overall, extremely helpful.

Book 6 – A Still and Quiet Mind: 12 Strategies for Changing Unwanted Thoughts – 5/5
I chose this book based upon some reccomendations in Goodreads. I hoped to build on what I started with “Why My Teenager”… It exceeded every expectation and was truly incredible.

Pros: An immense level of compassion, nuance, and balance. A format that went from general strategies to greater particulars. The author lays out a perspective that starts and ends with the Bible but leaves plenty of room for nuance, compassion, and a multi-pronged approach in difficult conversations regarding medication. I felt empower, equipped, and encouraged after reading this book. The author is incredible and the book is a great resource.

Cons: None.

Why You Should Read It: Because this resource would be a great tool for any Christian (or not) dealing with anxiety and intrusive thoughts of any kind. A great starting point and tool of hope. This might be the best book I read last year.

Book 7 – The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) – 5/5
This really kicked off my deep dive into Brandon Sanderson (as that continues now). It is the second book in his original Mistborn Trilogy.

Pros: All the skills of Sanderson come to the forefront. Great characters. Engaging plot. Deep worldbuilding. Complex ethical, moral, and philisophical ideas woven throughout. Unique twists on standard fantasy tropes.

Cons: The only con is that the middle part of the book did drag at some points and for that reason I had to read it in motivated strecthes. It still had a lot of interest but was slower than the first book. But, the last 200 pages were incredible and made the middle that much better.

Book 8 – Descriptions and Prescriptions: A Biblical Perspective on Psychiatric Diagnoses and Medications
I continued to read on this topic. This book was small and gave yet another perspective on these issues.

Pros: Very accessible and a great resouce to give out as a starter read on these issues from a Christian perspective. Brought similar levels of nuance and compassion as “A Still and Quiet Mind” but with a more direct goal of overviewing rather than equipping.

Cons: None really. An excellent resource to give a biblical perspective on a complex field.

Book 9 – Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom – 5/5
This book was one that I had read in the past in pieces but wanted to read from front to back as I continue to lead our educational staff at Northern Discovery Academy. This is a formational book in terms of our educational philosophy.

Pros: A really good practical tool for educators in utilizing different tools to emphasize evaluation based upon the Multiple Intelligences. Works really well as a references resource.

Cons: As with all practical tools there are ideas that work more or less well in your context but overall very few negatives.

Book 10 – The Outdoor Life of Children – 5/5
Charlotte Mason is another formational educator in how we approach education. In launching the Forest School for the first time as part of Northern Discovery Academy I sought to strengthen my understanding of her views regarding the importance of outdoor learning.

Pros: The strengths of Charlotte Mason are all present. She invites you into an education that focuses on discovery and curiosity as fueled through nature study and investigation. Thorougly counter-cultural and thorloughly engaging. We need to retrieve Charlotte Mason in modern education.

Cons: Her writing style is filled with rabbit trails. Often she feels less than organized as if you were sitting across from her sharing coffee as she spoke on the topic. Not something that takes away from the work but something that only needs to be known going in.

Book 11 – Total Participation Techniques – 5/5
As I continued to read in the educational sphere I sought something outside of my current sources but something that would equip and come from a different perspective. Active learning is an essential part of what we do at Northern Discovery Academy and I wanted another equipping tool for our teachers. This book is on the shelf now!

Pros: Works well as a reference resource with a lot of good research and practical tools. One of my most used statistics/quotes from this work is: studies have shown that by 8th grade students have been trained/taught to be “listening objects” in school.

Cons: Some ideas are better than others. Some are easier to execute than others. But that is due to the kind of resource that it is.

Book 12 – Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian: A Kingdom Corrective – 4/5
I ventured into this book as a book club with my brother. I have been wading through this contraversey carefully for a few years now and thought this would be an engaging resource and voice in this discussion.

Pros: The exegesis is top-notch. Her perspective is needed and a great reorienting in the conversation. Instead of focusing on western obsessions with authority in every text we should be seeking to answer the questions the text is asking and answering (she notes that authority is there, but only part of what is going on often). We should be focusong on the values of the Kingdom and not the values we come to the text with. She argues well for a refreshing look at the text and highlights the necessity for us to pursue unity, deep-seated servant-hearted postures, and embracing the Kingdom reversals that the gospel cultivates.

Cons: The only reason this is not a 5/5 is because she avoids making any kind of claim or position regarding the debate. This is intentional (and she says at much) but I think it hurts the book slightly. I would have prefered if she concluded her work by making a brief argument for her position based upon the approach and posture she argues. Rather than simply restating in summary form her book.

Why You Should Read This: It is a book you should read if you are on either side of the charged “women in ministry” or marriage/headship debates in the Church. It is a good corrective to both sides. It also examines the material in fresh ways and invites us into a better way. Accessible but rich exegesis makes this beneficial regardless of your agreement with the author on any particular.