Books I've Rated 4 / 5

• The Ruin of Kings

  by Jenn Lyons

  Finished 2019-10-06

• I'll Be Gone in the Dark

  by Michelle McNamara

  Finished 2019-09-28
• Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue The Untold History of English

  by John McWhorter

  Finished 2019-09-13

• The Couple Next Door

  by Shari Lapena

  Finished 2019-08-31

• The Turn of the Key

  by Ruth Ware

  Finished 2019-08-14

• Station Eleven

  by Emily St. John Mandel

  Finished 2019-08-03

• The Last Kingdom

  by Bernard Cornwell

  Finished 2019-07-18
• On the Other Side of Freedom The Case for Hope

  by DeRay Mckesson

  Finished 2019-07-09

• Evvie Drake Starts Over

  by Linda Holmes

  Finished 2019-07-08

• The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

  by Becky Chambers

  Finished 2019-07-03
• God A Human History

  by Reza Aslan

  Finished 2019-06-22
• Women & Power A Manifesto

  by Mary Beard

  Finished 2019-05-28

• The Grey King

  by Susan Cooper

  Finished 2019-05-25

  This has been my favorite of the series so far. It had a bit more of an actual arc. I’m getting the impression that Susan Cooper is really good with words and description, and great at creating some compelling hints at the mythology of her world (it may sound silly but the book titles are just… so good), but not as good at creating overall plot, story arcs. Each book seems to have Will or another kid just kind of bounce around while big things happen to them, which is I think common in children’s literature but here those big things often don’t even swell to any sort of climax and denouement—they just sort of happen. I had some of the same trouble with the Narnia books. This book, though, broke out of that a little. Having finished the book I have a general sense of what the arc was, what the purpose of the adventure was, etc. I liked it better than the previous ones for that reason, and I’m definitely interested in picking up the next one.

• The Socialist Manifesto The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality

  by Bhaskar Sunkara

  Finished 2019-05-12

• The Bird King

  by G. Willow Wilson

  Finished 2019-04-15