MrsLangdonAlger

I am a devourer of almost all things pop culture, but especially books. I already make it a goal to read around 150 books yearly, so I figured why not do some good for the world while I do it? I mostly read fiction, with some graphic novels and nonfiction mixed in there for good measure.

MrsLangdonAlger's Reviews:

I Might Have Liked This If I Didn’t Hate Every Character

The Awkward Age: A Novel by Francesca Segal

April 5, 2019 by MrsLangdonAlger Leave a Comment

Maybe I just have bad luck with “family drama” novels, because every one I seem to discover seems to center around the idea that every member of every family is insufferable. Are these novels only written by people who hate their families? Are all upper class people just awful? What is happening here that every time I read a “family drama” novel I hate every single character in it? Okay, that’s an exaggeration, I liked one character: the grandfather-in-law is very nice, and is therefore shunted off into Mandyland in the last third of the novel, never to be heard […]

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The Awkward Age: A Novel by Francesca Segal

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4/5/2019 | MrsLangdonAlger's CBR11 Review No:8 |

Sadie by Courtney Summers

April 5, 2019 by MrsLangdonAlger 3 Comments

Apparently I’ve discovered my favorite young adult subgenre, and it’s “angry books about what our crappy society does to girls”. In the last year all my favorite YA books books have fit into this wheelhouse. I don’t read a lot of young adult novels at all anymore, but when I find books that look like they might be similar to I Stop Somewhere, The Nowhere Girls, or Sawkill Girls, I always pick them up. This one didn’t disappoint. The book follows Sadie, who is out to get revenge against the man she believes killed her little sister. Also following Sadie […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

Sadie by Courtney Summers

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4/5/2019 | MrsLangdonAlger's CBR11 Review No:7 |

Lovely Description of Growing Up

Calling My Name by Liara Tamani

March 6, 2019 by MrsLangdonAlger 1 Comment

Apparently, today is my day to review “books about things that are hard to describe”! You know what is really hard to describe? Growing up. There are SO MANY books about it but not enough of them really describe the emotional states of going from a younger child to a preteen to a teen. Calling My Name does it beautifully: lyrical writing in short chapters, little vignettes sharing moments of a life. The book makes you root for and care deeply about Taja right away, and you only grow to care about her more as you share her inner thoughts, […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

Calling My Name by Liara Tamani

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

3/6/2019 | MrsLangdonAlger's CBR11 Review No:6 |

Best Booze Memoir I’ve Read

Drunk Mom: A Memoir by Jowita Bydlowska

March 6, 2019 by MrsLangdonAlger 2 Comments

This review comes with a trigger warning for discussion of alcoholism. It is impossible for me to describe the abject shame and humiliation that comes with being in active alcoholism. The “big book”, what we call the book Alcoholics Anonymous, which is the main textbook of AA, calls it “pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization”, and that’s about right in my experience. But it’s hard to describe the day to day feeling of that helplessness and demoralization, especially if you’re trying to describe it to someone who isn’t also an addict. Jowita Bydlowska, however, seems to be able to describe it extremely […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

Drunk Mom: A Memoir by Jowita Bydlowska

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

3/6/2019 | MrsLangdonAlger's CBR11 Review No:5 |

A Beautiful Call to Respect Animals/the Environment

Tales from the Inner City by Shaun Tan

February 5, 2019 by MrsLangdonAlger 1 Comment

I’ve been a fan of Shaun Tan for quite awhile now. I mean, look at this art: But Tales from the Inner City is definitely my favorite work of his so far. Each story focuses on a different animal, real or imagined for the book, and their effect on or absence from Tan’s surreal urban landscape. There are the ghosts of horses running through crowded city bridges. There are bears suing humans for past abuse and damage…and winning. There are fish that live in the sky. There’s a unimaginably huge swarm of […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

Tales from the Inner City by Shaun Tan

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2/5/2019 | MrsLangdonAlger's CBR11 Review No:4 |

What the everloving…?

The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

January 26, 2019 by MrsLangdonAlger 3 Comments

Jesus take the wheel, where do I even begin with this book?! Okay, so I’ll say right now there are going to be spoilers because I can’t accurately describe why this book drives me crazy without giving away plot elements. So if you were looking forward to reading this book, which does have lots of Big Reveals, don’t read further. A trigger warning as well for abuse, rape, incest, religious abuse, basically anything bad that can happen. The basic plot is this: Essie is a member of a Duggar-like reality TV family. Her whole life has been spent on camera, […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

1/26/2019 | MrsLangdonAlger's CBR11 Review No:3 |

These books are almost custom-made for me

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

January 10, 2019 by MrsLangdonAlger 4 Comments

I always understand and work to remember that everyone has different tastes, but I have to admit I was absolutely baffled when it came to my attention that there are folks out there who don’t enjoy the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire. And then I remembered that not everyone is me, and while I don’t get it, I accept it. That being said, as I said in the title, these books are practically custom-made for me. Every kid who finds a world in these reminds me of my childhood self in some way, and this book is the very […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

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1/10/2019 | MrsLangdonAlger's CBR11 Review No:2 |

Both Complex and Accurate

Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne

January 7, 2019 by MrsLangdonAlger 1 Comment

I’m gonna start by saying that this book made me feel like kind of an idiot the whole time I was reading it. Not in a bad way! It’s just very logical, with philosophical arguments laid out academic-style, and it’s been long enough since my time in school that I had to mentally switch over to that kind of reading style to understand what was being said. Manne is obviously an extremely intelligent person, and while she lays out her arguments clearly, maybe be prepared to read this slowly and with a dictionary at hand. Manne lays out arguments about […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

1/7/2019 | MrsLangdonAlger's CBR11 Review No:1 |

J on “I wasn’t ashamed of anything because our family secret wasn’t dark and my mother acted neither apologetic nor embarrassed.”Such a good book! The affection comes through on every page.
emmalita on What a Bunch of A-holesYou should definitely listen to those podcast episodes. All your rage will be for the assholes involved.
lowercasesee on “The library is a gathering pool of narratives and of the people who come to find them. “Oh woah! I have this one coming from the library. I've seen so much "IT'S GREAT" but not actually know what it is going to...
badkittyuno on Shockingly raw and well-writtenThat was great! I feel like that show would be improved several times over if they lost the soundtrack...
badkittyuno on “Carnivore in the streets, person-who-has-eaten-a-carrot-masquerading-as-a-hot-dog in the sheets.”Ha I didn't even realize. Thanks!