The Monthly Line: September 2024

Reflections on being a woman

Hello dear readers,

I've kick-started the autumn with a whole clutch of interesting reads, which I hope you will in turn find interesting to read about.

I begin with two sides of the womanhood coin, before escaping into joy and frivolity. Let's dive in.

One. All Fours by Miranda July

Oh boy. This novel is WILD. I was not prepared for the wildness, though friends who have read some of July's work previously tell me it is by no means the wildest thing she's written. It has four parts, and after the first one I was about to give up, but it was a book club pick so I struggled on, and surprised myself by finding parts two and three really interesting. Essentially it's about a woman who blows up her life whilst going through the perimenopause, and it was this reflection on the perimenopause and the symptoms she experiences that I found fascinating. As the main character reflects in the novel, where are the stories about women going through this huge life phase? I think there are more coming through, and July's contribution will definitely inspire others. Oh also, as a book club we collectively decided that part four should have been scrapped.

How I read it: on my kindle in a rush for book club

Two. Matrescence by Lucy Jones

From menopause to motherhood, although this book is somewhere between memoir and non-fiction, it felt like the right thing to read after All Fours. Lucy Jones has three children, and felt compelled to write this after experiencing a huge lack of information around what happens to women's bodies in pregnancy, during birth and afterwards - a period termed matrescence. I found it fascinating, there was so much I didn't know, like cells from my child are still in my body! My brain has been completely rewired! Her personal story of loneliness in motherhood, where she seems to have no social networks at all, made me deeply sad and profoundly grateful for the relationships I have with parents going through similar stuff. In fact I ended up texting lots of them after reading this to say thank you!

How I read it: mostly at bedtime, marvelling over it while I went to sleep

Three. A snowfall of silver by Laura Wood

This was such a fun read, like a gorgeous little patisserie in a shop window on a gloomy day. Set in the early thirties, it follows Freya who has run away to her sister's house in London to become an actress. She falls into doing the costumes for a traveling theatre troupe and all the usual fun and revelations ensue: romance, existential crises, a dastardly man. I loved being swept away by it, it felt very vivid and joyful.

How I read it: gobbled up in one evening at home

Four. My name is Yip by Paddy Crewe

I was recommended this by a friend from work, as it was written by her nephew! I spotted it in the library and decided to give it a go. It follows the life story of Yip - a small, bald, mute man living in America in the gold rush era. Yip narrates the novel and I loved his narrative voice, it had a specificity to it that felt very real. The story really gallops along with gold, adventure, heartbreak and surprising twists and turns. If you need a good yarn to spend a few hours with, I would recommend this one.

How I read it: on my commute, galloping through the wild west while on the district line

Five. Stone yard devotional by Charlotte Wood

This Australian novel is on the Booker prize shortlist. It's about a woman who used to work in sustainability, trying to persuade people to help save the planet. She has lost hope and retreated from the world to a tiny convent just outside her home town. She's not a nun, but lives closely alongside them, experiencing all the small daily irritants that living in community generates. I found her quite grating, and the general tone of the novel very listless, like it never really got going. There's a plague of mice going on throughout much of it, they eat away at everything they can find. It was definitely a metaphor for something but I found myself not interested enough in the novel to figure it out.

How I read it: another bedtime read

Have you picked up any of these? I would love to know your thoughts! Just hit reply to this email.