The Monthly Line: June 2024
Reading a range
Good evening dear reader.
For this month, I was surprised at the range of my reading. It was fun to skip through so many genres. Though it is only now I realise that they are all by women, which was a bit accidental but nonetheless pleasing.
This month we have a wispy fantasy, a solid plot, some spiritual encounters and a classic woman alone having a crisis novel. Let's dig in.
One. For thy great pain have mercy on my little pain by Victoria Mackenzie
In the 14th century, two women had profound experiences of God, visions of Jesus conveying to them wisdom or information they couldn't have known. They both wrote books, believed to be among the first written by women in the English language. Margery Kempe goes on pilgrimages, is charged with heresy many times but always manages to rebut the charges, while Julian of Norwich becomes an anchoress - confined to solitary isolation in a church, she can only conduct conversation through a slim window with a veil over it.
This slim novel imagines that these two heroines of English Christianity, met and had a profound impact on each other. They are so different from one another, which the author represents by narrating their different sections completely differently. As first person narrators, Julian is calm and quiet, educated, whereas Margery is coarse, chaotic, confronting. I found the experience of jumping from one to the other jarring, which I think was deliberate, but it did limit my enjoyment of the book. But it was still a fascinating exploration of different ways of experiencing God, as well as the role of women in the church and in Christian thought.
How I read it: swiftly at bedtime
Two. The city of woven streets by Emmi Itäranta
This spooky fantasy novel felt half-baked to me. It's set in a world of extreme segregation, where dreaming has been banned. If you're found dreaming, you're snatched away by the ruling powers. It had some nice moments of suspense, and it was quite short (always an achievement for a fantasy novel) but didn't hang together. There are a lot of descriptions of wispy webs and half-heard words, and the characters felt the same to me - indistinct and forgettable.
How I read it: I meandered through a few days with it
Three. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
This is the book I will be recommending to people all summer when they ask me for something not too challenging but with a proper story. It's narrated by a mother and cherry farmer, isolating on her farm with her husband and three daughters during the pandemic. Her daughters ask her to tell them the story of her relationship with a now-famous actor, who she met in her twenties when she herself was set to become a famous actress. It's about memory and family and how some experiences soften over the years and others only become sharper and more cutting. I really enjoyed it, it has a warm heart without being saccharine.
How I read it: when I should have been napping after a rough night
Four and Five. This summer will be different and Meet me at the lake by Carley Fortune
These are two very enjoyable romance novels by a new to me writer. They're not connected by any characters but they do have in common the beach and a slight sense of jeopardy, but never enough to worry you (ideal in a romance novel in my opinion). This summer will be different is the better of the two, but both are good beach reads if that's what you're in need of. Though Meet me by the lake treats lightly a pretty traumatic event in a way I was not keen on, so your mileage may vary.
How I read them: quiet evenings at home
Six. In Case of Emergency by Poorna Bell
A crisis-in-your-thirties novel, this follows a marketing executive Bel, who has a near death experience because she's texting and not looking while walking along the road. It leads her to reassess her whole life, including her relationships with friends and family, and particularly how she and her close friends reacted to an event in her teens, which led to her being ostracised from her friend group. If you've ever wanted to throw away your life and start again I think you'll connect with this novel, which doesn't have a lot of artistry about it, but is a fun and illuminating story.
How I read it: on the tube, in keeping with its London heroine
Book of the month: for giving me an easy answer to 'what should I read' questions, it's going to be Tom Lake.
I hope you enjoyed this month's missive, apologies it's a bit late. I hope your summer is restful and full of reading!