The Time of The French in the Heart of North America, by Charles J. Balesi

Here's a book that connects the dots of our French Colonial history between 1673-1818. I was amazed to see how key the doings in Illinois were to both the French Canadian scene and to that of Louisiana. In fact, I did not know that once Illinois was part of Louisiana when its capital was Mobile. Anyway, Charles Balesi has done a great job of assembling and connecting information based on primary sources about this people and this period which is of great interest to me, personally. It is even readable, for the most part, and gives rich detail about the various tribal interactions among the Native Americans of the time.

Balesi, Charles J. The Time of the French in the Heart of North America: 1673-1818. 1992. Alliance Francaise. Chicago. Illinois.

The Bishop At The Lake, by Andrew M. Greeley

I've discovered a new author that I like a lot. His topics are the ones that make up my books - authentic faith, abusive clergy, real life stories complicated by the church. His books are fiction - murder mystery genre, almost- because people don't always actually die. The protagonist is an Irish-American Chicago bishop who goes by the nickname, Blackie. The author, Greeley, is a Roman Catholic priest whose website is pastoral as much as it is promotional. So far I've read two of his books: The Bishop at the Lake, and The Bishop in the Old Neighborhood. I'll read the rest soon.

The Bishop's Daughter, by Tiffany L. Warren

When Darren decided to investigate a mega-church in Atlanta in an attempt to discredit its bishop, he finds himself having to re-evaluate everything he has come to believe. The characters in Tiffany Warren's book are vivid - the reader sees them, hears their intonation patterns, easily recognizes each one as a caricature of someone in real life. She confronts issues of race, sexuality, ethics, family, and money using believable situations. I love the blogger brotha. Despite her delightful characters and their authentic struggles and her very readable prose that moves fast, the characters' life-changing decisions: to get baptized, not to abort a pregnancy, and for a committed virgin to seduce a fast player happen too fast, too easily, and always resolve into a church-approved choice in too pat a manner for me. Darren and the bishop are the most consistent of all the characters and both of them struggle (for the most part) in an authentic internal debate to reconcile their identities and emotions. So, my conclusion is that The Bishop's Daughter has a lot done really well but it stands as a cozy church morality play that is enjoyable and very much the kind of novel grandmothers might give their teenage grand-daughters for Christmas.

Tiffany L. Warren. The Bishop's Daughter. 2009. Hachette Book Group. New York

The First Billion Is the Hardest by T. Boone Pickens

Here's the reflective autobiography of the most recent years lived by T. Boone Pickens. He's the natural gas and alternative energy advocate/trader whose television commercials promote his passion to make the US energy independent. I have to admit that the title is what amused me enough to check the book out of the library and the endearing but usually verging on crude down-home Texan proverbs kept me reading. This man doesn't do anything on a small scale but he relies on "accurate analysis, the nerve to take risks, and the ability to act" along with a core team of trusted advisors to set his course. Even when he turned to philanthropy, he acted magnanimously but very strategically. Using creative non-traditional fundraising tactics, competition, Pickens takes charge. "We like results", he explained...We know where we want to make a difference. We find people that have the leadership skills and the capacity to make a differenece, and we fund them..." The 80+ year old still works out every day, runs a big business, and sets new bars for his colleagues, adversaries, and beneficiaries at a pace that doesn't stop. His tempered wisdom moves fast but it is carefully layered in the words of this very honest reflection so that every reader who takes his advice will gain ground.

T. Boone Pickens, The First Billion Is the Hardest, c. 2008, Crown Publishing, NY