the ella luna book club
november 2025
Pure Colour
by Sheila Heti
In Knitted Sweaters and Long Skirts,
Ella
I love the holiday season. Especially for the past few years, because I have an abundance of loved ones to share this special time of year with. Erin and I spend Sunday mornings making cinnamon rolls and drinking hot tea. We spend extra time with my Mimi in the suburbs. Lulu and I have our annual gift exchange (I’ll be gifting her our friendship calendar for the eighth year in a row). My mom and I will go holiday shopping, Grace and Ethan will come to town from London, my little brother and his girlfriend will come over for movie night. And we kick off this most wonderful time of the year with a great holiday indeed; my dad’s birthday is on the 3rd.
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The older I get, the more I am disappointed in men as a whole. I fit into a stereotype of a “man-hating lesbian” and so the first inquiry people have is about my relationship to my father and my brother. I am so lucky to love both of these men wholeheartedly, not just because we share DNA, but because they are exceptional allies, feminists, and goodhearted people. In fact, I think it is because of my adoration of these guys that my expectations for all men are so high. I love them so dearly.
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For those unfamiliar with my father, I call him “The Angriest Man Alive” or “Angry” for short. He’s angry about all the right things, like republicans and overpriced sushi bills. He is endlessly supportive, selfless, funny, and kind, I am lucky to have such an amazing dad. He will be turning 58 this year, a true grumpy old man! I’ve been trying to find a good month for us to read Pure Colour because I love this book and am dying for a chance to read it with all of you. Father’s Day is in June but obviously that’s pride month…. So this is the chance!
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Pure Colour is the first and only novel I have read from Sheila Heti. Grace recommended it to me a couple years ago, and it has been lingering in my brain since. It encapsulates a lot of magic realism akin to Chouette by Claire Oshetsky, except exploring the love between a father and a daughter, and from the perspective of the daughter. Mira, the girl in this story, is grasping with her fathers death, and reflecting on their bond. This is a mystical story, with moments of questioning reality versus metaphor. I’m looking forward to a reread of this novel. I promise it is quick, entertaining, and will bring you joy.
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We will be meeting Sunday November 30th at 5:00 PM. I know that the next two months are extra crazy and busy, but if you’re looking for a safe, welcoming, cozy space, Ella Luna Book Club is here for you!
november media
meeting is november 30th at 5:00 PM at a new top-secret location! RSVP via Instagram @ellalunabookclub
film -
​ella enchanted (2004) dir. tommy o'haver
monsters inc (2001) dir. pete docter
beetlejuice (1988) dir. tim burton​
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music -
the last five years by jason robert brown
little voice by sara bareilles
symphony no. 1 in e minor by florence price
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places -
denver zoo / 2300 Steele St, Denver, CO 80205
under the umbrella / 3507 E 12th Ave, Denver, CO 80206
wax paper / 2902 Knox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039
october 2025
The Lamb
by Lucy Rose
When my little brother was 10 years old, he decided he no longer wanted to eat beef because he thought that cows were so cute. This translated to my parents cooking vegetarian meals, and myself no longer eating meat. This was not a strenuous change for me; I’d never loved the taste of meat and did not like the reality of knowing that I was eating the flesh of a creature. This was 10 years ago, and in the past decade of my vegetarianism, I of course have had my cheat days, but always with white meat. poultry. Even that I don't like, but I find it easier to pretend that it isn’t meat, which is bad because it is!!!! And you should know about and be okay with where your food comes from. I just find the blood and guts thing so icky. I once had a work dinner with three male colleagues at Korean barbeque, at the time I was vegan. It took everything in me to not pull faces as they brought us slabs of raw meat. I used to date a girl who only drank raw goat's milk, and she cooked and skinned road kill. I think part of me admired her ability to understand where her food was coming from, but the other found the blood and guts of it to be so gnarly.
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I never, ever find myself craving red meat. I feel wholly satisfied with my weird vegan bacon in my breakfast wraps and love a black bean or portobello mushroom burger. But the weirdest thing has made me curious about the line between blood and guts of animals versus that of humans: cannibal novels.
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I read A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers last fall. The way that she describes preparing human meat as such a delicacy is so interesting. She makes it sound undoubtedly delicious. And she is killing men who have wronged her… so what’s not to love about that? It reminds me of the solidarity you feel watching Monster (2003) for the serial killer because at the end of the day, she’s just trying to live! This is a great trope, bringing out the observer's empathy and moral code all at once.
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You do not feel this conflict in reading The Lamb by Lucy Rose. The mother is surely bad, luring innocent people to the home of her and her daughter with the sole intent of killing and eating them. She is neglectful of her daughter. The house is unsafe and unsanitary. But something about the way Rose writes about it is gorgeous, tender, and intimate. I fell deep within the world of this book, and am looking forward to hearing thoughts from all of you!
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Our meeting this month will be held at a top-secret location on October 30th at 7:00 PM. RSVP for details. Costumes are mandatory for attendance, and feel free to bring some plus-ones (even if they have not read the book) because after book club we will have a little Halloween hang. Bisous!
Putting a Spell On You,
Ella
meeting is october 30th at 5:00 PM at a top-secret location! RSVP via Instagram @ellalunabookclub
october media
film -
​opus (2025) dir. mark anthony green
the nightmare before christmas (1993) dir. henry selick
west side story (2021) dir. steven spielberg​
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music -
a matter of time by laufey
west side story by leonard bernstein
man's best friend by sabrina carpenter
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places -
jojo's coffee / 98 Front St N, Issaquah, WA 98027
arundel books / 322 1st Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
cafe flora / 2901 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98112
september 2025
A Room Called Earth
by Madeleine Ryan
“The leaves of brown came tumblin’ down, remember? That September in the raaaiiiiinnn.” My favorite rendition of “September in the Rain” has always been that of Dinah Washington. And I love fall, I’m a simple girl in this regard. Growing up in Colorado, I experienced the magic of four seasons. September has perfect weather, a balance of sunny 80 degree afternoons by the river and crisp autumn air at 6:00 AM on my way to school. Erin and I just moved into our first house together, and I feel like I’m in a dream. We have matcha lattes in the backyard in the morning, we go for walks and wave to our neighbors, framed photos from our 2.5 years together scattered on every wall. This is our second autumn in Denver, and I look forward to all the cliches.
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Last month, we read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, one of the greatest novels ever written, though extremely heartbreaking. So this month, I wanted to choose something more uplifting. I placed an order on Thriftbooks for A Room Called Earth by Madeleine Ryan back in April during Autism Awareness Month. I read it in a few days during my solo trip to NYC. I’ve never felt so seen in a narrator. The entire book takes place the evening before, during, and the morning after a house party. Our unnamed narrator is a young Australian woman. We get insight on her perspective of the world, of social etiquette, of fashion and cocktails. I love that at no point in the novel are we explicitly told that the narrator is autistic, but that Ryan simply lets her exist as she is. This is a book you will fly through, and if you are like me, will see yourself in. Equal parts funny and moving, I’m sure everyone will thoroughly enjoy reading this.
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I’ve been working on applications for my undergrad, which I am hoping to start in Fall of next year, and oh boy am I essay’ed out! So I’m keeping it short this month. Thank you all for being here. We will meet Sunday, September 28th at 5:00 PM at a top-secret new location (which I will send you when you RSVP to me via Instagram @ellalunabookclub ! Okay, that’s all for now. Bisous bisous.
With a Tender Heart and a Full Brain,
Ella
meeting is september 28th at 5:00 PM at a new top-secret location! RSVP via Instagram @ellalunabookclub
film -
snow white (2025) dir. marc webb
sing, sing (2024) dir. greg kwedar​
silver linings playbook (2012) dir. david o russell
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music -
who's the clown by audrey hobert
ennanga by ashley jackson
adoration by florence price
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places -
rosy rings / 2940 E 6th Ave, Denver, CO 80206
pegasus book exchange / 4553 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116
maria empanada / 2501 Dallas St, Aurora, CO 80010
september media
august 2025
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
Wishing You Only Good Books This Month,
Ella
There are books that change an individual life, there are books that change the world, and there are some books that do both. I have an aversion to very popular, critically acclaimed books; it’s the most snobby and pretentious I get! I love Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo, but you couldn’t pay me to read an Emily Henry book. My Brilliant Friend is one of the worst books I have ever read (so sorry Gracie) and I’ve never understood the obsession with those ACOTAR books. But every once in a while, I am floored by a book that floored the rest of the world. It happened with Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett and I Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline Harpman and Rubyfruit Jungle. And it happened with The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
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The Bluest Eye is Morrison’s first novel, published in 1970. Set in 1940’s Ohio, the novel is narrated by Claudia MacTeer, the daughter of the family that takes in foster child Pecola Breedlove after her father burns down their home. Pecola is quiet and passive, wishing for blue eyes after consistent cruelty about her beauty from her peers and community. The novel follows Pecola’s upbringing and adolescence, as well as the younger years of both her parents in flashbacks. Morrison started writing The Bluest Eye while teaching English at Howard University, having joined a writers group. She came back to the story in the mid-sixties because she felt “compelled to remember that [being black] wasn’t always beautiful, and how hurtful racism is.” “So when I wrote The Bluest Eye it was about that; before we all decide that we are all beautiful, let me speak for some of us who didn’t get that right away. I was deeply concerned about the feelings of being ugly.”
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I first read The Bluest Eye my sophomore year of high school in English class. Looking back, I’m really glad that I was introduced to Toni Morrison in an academic setting; this book has been banned in schools and libraries across the United States for its themes of racism, incest, and child molestation. I really only remember a select few books from school, mostly because I hated that I was forced to read their tired ideology. I hated the rich, pretentious, white man privilege and ignorance in Into the Wild, I hated the male gaze predictability in The Great Gatsby. I think one of the reasons I’m so drawn to non-male authors, writers, artists, and just people in general stems from these books I read. They did nothing for me. I remember reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and To Kill A Mockingbird. But The Bluest Eye stuck with me the most. I stayed up all night reading it, I looked forward to watching the presentations of my classmates and hearing their thoughts. I’ve always been a big reader, even as a child, but this book resurrected the feeling of getting lost in a story for moody, 15 year old me.
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I haven't read this book in years and am looking forward to seeing it through my eyes now. I read Jazz by Toni Morrison last year and loved it deeply. I can’t wait to hear all of your thoughts, whether this be your first read or one of many. See you August 31st at 5:00 PM in Little Cheesman Park.
august media
film -
​oh, hi! (2025) dir. sophie brooks
cinderella (2015) dir. kenneth branagh
ladybird (2017) dir. greta gerwig​
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music -
dog eared by billie marten
sunbathe by daphne jane
animaru by mei semones
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places -
lamb shoppe / 3512 E 12th Ave, Denver, CO 80206
talulah jones / 1122 E 17th Ave, Denver, CO 80218
uchi denver / 2500 Lawrence St, Denver, CO 80205
meeting is august 31st at 5:00 PM at the Little Cheesman Park (701-799 High St, Denver, CO 80218) !
july 2025
Earth Angel
by Madeline Cash
This month I am turning 23 years old. Not really a monumental age, but has some personal significance to me (most everything has some sort of personal significance to me because I am the most sensitive girl in the whole world). This is the age that the girl I dated when I was 18 was and I remember her feeling so grown up, and thinking about what I would be like at her age. There is a song I love called “All You Gotta Be When You’re 23 is Yourself” and the lyric “call yourself an artist / work part time at Whole Foods” should win some sort of Grammy in the Ellaluniverse. Anyway, the older I get, the more I am becoming a birthday person. I love an excuse to celebrate and I love who I am. This year, my girlfriend and my best friend are joining me on a trip to Southern California. We are going to sit at the beach, swim in the pool, eat good food, dance, sleep, read, basically do all the things that bring me joy. Before then, I’m teaching music to the most amazing group of girls, and making coffee at a little shop uptown. Life is good.
I want us to read something fun this month, something not too serious that you can pull out in between all of your summer adventures. I landed on Earth Angel by Madeline Cash. I found this book in a good old social media recommendation post. I like to find my weird girl books that way; the people in my phone do not disappoint. Earth Angel is a collection of short stories (or essays, depending on how you read them) about the apocalypse in many different forms. The stories follow a tour guide of Los Angeles, an adolescent beauty queen, frogs rejecting gender, an itinerary of a slumber party with a group of strangers. Lovely, enjoyable, and strange, there is something in this collection for everyone.
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Every time I choose a book to book club, I take a gander at the reviews on Goodreads. Sometimes, it seems like most reviews are in agreement that the book is wonderful, and even if it wasn’t a personal favorite, they still feel they gained something out of reading it. But my favorite books always seem to have very mixed reviews. Maybe it’s because I’m so drawn to absurdism and magical realism, which is a genre some people have a really hard time tapping into. But I love a divisive book! When I was hosting a queer lit book club, I chose Notes On Her Color by Jennifer Neal, and I was so satisfied when half the group loved it and the other half hated it. I feel like Earth Angel may receive a similar response, and you will have to read it to find out which side you will fall on. We will be meeting at Little Cheese again this month on Sunday, July 27th at 5:00 PM. See you there as 23 year old me!!
Always Growing & Never Changing,
Ella
july media
film -
​tinker bell (2008) dir. bradley raymond
soul (2020) dir. pete docter
mamma mia! (2008) dir. phyllida lloyd​
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music -
it is cynical, missing you by lily talmers
goodnight summerland by helena deland
extraordinary machine by fiona apple
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places -
chapter one book store / 252 W Main St, Hamilton, MT 59840
hearth / 1300 E 17th Ave, Denver, CO 80218
boulder public library / 1001 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder, CO 80302
meeting is july 27th at 5:00 PM at the Little Cheesman Park (701-799 High St, Denver, CO 80218) !
june 2025
Written on the Body
by Jeanette Winterson
The year that I first called myself queer was the year that same sex marriage became legal in the United States: 2015. I was 12 years old and in love with a classmate. I studied vocal music and she studied creative writing. On the first day of the 7th grade, I saw her with her freshly chopped pixie haircut, her “make art, not war” tee shirt, and I was smitten. She was my first kiss, my first girlfriend, the first girl I ever loved. That was the year I discovered my favorite thing about living: queerness. I’ve fallen in love with many girls as many different versions of myself, and it never gets old.
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There have been evolutions in my sexuality discovery journey, of course. The summer I graduated high school, I knew for sure that I would never be with a boy. I told my friends that I was a lesbian, a word that I previously circumvented, and no one was surprised. I had my first girlfriend that summer when I was 17. Didn’t last long, but it made me realize how much I love being in love with a girl. The following spring, I moved to Los Angeles and fell in love with another girl. My first adult, grown up relationship. Our own house, endless time together, magical nights. Being in love with my partner now is my domestic lesbian dream come true. Every act of love feels like a revolution; simply by loving one another, we are living a life that the women before us couldn’t. That is something I never take for granted.
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Pride month is my favorite time of year. Even though I can’t attend festivals or parades or parties (I don’t like loud noises or crowds or being out late), I feel jubilant every time I step outside. The world is in bloom and who I am is cause for celebration. I always try to seek out queer media, but especially this month. I refuse to read or watch or listen to anything that isn’t by a queer person okay!!!! One of the best books I have read this year is Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. I’d read her classic Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit upon my new lesbian identity in 2020, but it focused a bit too much on religion to be accessible to me. But since I loved Winterson’s prose and diction, I decided to pick up Written on the Body at the beginning of this year.
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First published on New Year’s Day of 1992, Written on the Body is a beautiful portrayal of love, lust, and loss. The genderless narrator is in love with Louise, who has a husband. They fall in love, they have sex, they lose touch. The plot itself isn’t anything extraordinary; in fact, I think its mundane quality contrasted by the eccentric emotions of the narrator and Louise is what makes it so damn beautiful. I am looking forward to rereading this, and discussing with all of you. See you Sunday June 29th at 5:00 PM for our meeting.
Happy Pride From Me To You,
Ella
june media
meeting is june 22nd at 4:00 PM at the Little Cheesman Park (701-799 High St, Denver, CO 80218) !
film -
​drive away dolls (2024) dir. ethan coen
love lies bleeding (2024) dir. rose glass
but i'm a cheerleader (2000) dir. jamie babbit​
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music -
rabbit songs by hem
her's by matt maltese
what's changed by bridey costello
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places -
greenlight bookstore / 686 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217
the corner bookstore / 1313 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10128
zinc jazz bar / 82 W 3rd St, New York, NY 10012
may 2025
Uncommon Measure: A Journey Through Music, Performance, and the Science of Time
by Natalie Hodges
There are periods of my life when I am in a flux of creativity; usually when I’m falling in love, when I’m making an album, when I’m moving to a new city. On the other side of the coin, there are periods when I am in a drought of creativity; when everything I write sounds bad, when even sitting down to record a cover proves to be difficult. I’ve been in a drought lately! When I look at other songwriters and musicians my age, it can be so frustrating to see them have all the time in the world to be creative. I’ve been lucky to have had months of unemployment (trophy wife-ing) where I could really focus on my symphony transcriptions and recording songs in Brooklyn, but that is not life. To pay rent, I’ve been a music teacher, a waitress, a bookseller, a barista. Security and consistency is very important in financial responsibility, but it also makes me feel like a play-pretend pop princess when I travel to play shows or when a coworker finds out how many monthly listeners I have. It doesn’t feel like my job per se.
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So in the drought, I have to find ways to dig myself from the ground. As a novel reader, I get inspired by other stories. I wrote a song a while ago loosely inspired by Tiny’s story in Chouette by Claire Oshetsky, by the language and perspective in Marigold and Rose by Louise Glück. I watch Fiona Apple interviews and media about first lesbian relationships (My First Summer and The Last of Us for some reason…) to get my creative juices flowing. I love getting lost in another person's mind.
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I’d never really read a non-fiction book that captivated and inspired me in this way until Uncommon Measure. I picked it up a few months before my performance with the symphony and it sat on my TBR pile since it wasn’t a typical genre for me. When I finally did pick it up, I devoured it in a few days. This is the debut of Natalie Hodges, who is an accomplished violinist. This book is genre-defying. No matter who you are or how extensive your understanding of music is, you will learn something.
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There are two things that stuck with me the most since first reading this. The first is this quote, which I included in my Artist Statement in the program for the symphony performance, “The desire to make music is as much a desire to assert the individual self as to connect with others. -performing requires humility: a willingness to risk being humiliated or misunderstood, and to lay yourself bare so you can try to say what you mean (and what you think the composer meant). I have never heard a response to the question “why perform?” that resonated with me as much as this. The other is the introduction to Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero. Hodges references Montero’s improvisations at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr 2009 Philharmonie Essen. She includes a link to the full performance on YouTube, which you can find below. I come back to this video whenever I am feeling uninspired musically, when the lyrics and subject are coming to me but the music isn’t. Everyone I show the video too is as floored by Montero’s undeniable gift as myself and Hodges. I can’t wait for you to hear what stands out most to you in Uncommon Measure.
Love to All My Sweethearts,
Ella
may media
film -
​the last repair shop (2023) dir. ben proudfoot, kris bowers
bambi (1942) dir. david hand
my first summer (2020) dir. katie found​
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music -
changing light by ironsides
naive by LUELLA
back to me by the marias
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places -
the shop at MATTER / 2114 Market St, Denver, CO 80205
feminist majority foundation / 433 S. Beverly Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90212
boulder bookstore / 1107 Pearl St, Boulder, CO 80302
meeting is may 25th at 5:00 PM at the Little Cheesman Park (701-799 High St, Denver, CO 80218) !
april 2025
The English Understand Wool
by Helen DeWitt
10 years ago, Tuesday’s were my favorite day of the week because I got to stay late for “tutoring” after school, which was actually the time I spent feeling electricity in my stomach while holding hands with the first girl I ever loved on the picnic benches in the back of school. 4 years ago, April was my favorite month of the year because it was the month that the girl who would eventually break my heart told me she thought I was cute and wanted to be my girlfriend. Last year, the last day of April marked my last day as a resident in the City of Angels; my love and I packed up our studio apartment and set off for a summer of adventures. April is to the year whatTuesday is to a week in my head. Does that make sense? Time wise it makes sense, but also it is a time that was once precious to me that now is just another word on the calendar.
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But don’t get me wrong, I still like April. Spring is around the corner, little flowers are budding as we walk the dog around the neighborhood, it’s not pitch black when we meet friends for drinks at 7:00 PM anymore. This April is exciting in my world in particular because I get to go to two cities I love that I don’t live in. The first week of this month, I get to open for the magical folk sister duo Sarah Julia at Scribble in Los Angeles, which I am greatly looking forward to. The last week of this month, I will be in New York City on vacation. I am excited to write songs, visit my favorite bookstores, and spend some time with my best friend Grace before she graduates college. All in all, this month holds a lot of promise for me. I hope you have many days to look forward to this month.
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With all of this absence in mind, Ella Luna Book Club must meet earlier in the month than we are used to. The 19th of April, a Saturday, at 5:00 to be exact. Since I know most of the loyal book club members work jobs in which they can’t just read all day (horrible news), I knew I would need to choose a short book for this month. At first I thought we could do another poetry collection, but then I remembered a fairy-tale I read in February.
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The English Understand Wool has a cover that stuck with me from the first time I saw it. It was a Storybook ND Series, so it has the same silver spine of my copy of The Road to the City by Natalia Ginzburg. I’d passed on it many times at my local bookstores, so when I saw it again at Beacon Hill Books in Boston, I knew the time had come for me to read it.
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This novella is narrated by a 17-year-old girl under the strict guidance of her French mother and English father. She plays piano for hours a day, and travels with her mother to ensure her wardrobe is as suitable as possible. During this year's annual Ramadan, a huge secret of her life is revealed overnight. The entire story is told in only 70 pages, so I don’t want to risk spoiling anything. You will just have to pick up your copy at Petals & Pages and find out what happens in this physiological thriller and satirical critique of the publishing industry.
Sending Tulips & Pink Sunsets,
Ella (I broke my glasses)
april media
film -
​the only girl in the orchestra (2023) dir. molly o'brien
sabrina (1954) dir. billy wilder
​the hunger games (2012) dir. gary ross​
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music -
admist the chaos by sara bareilles
crying, lauhing, loving, lying by labi siffre
lookaftering by vashti bunyan
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places -
north figueroa bookshop / 6040 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90042
scribble / 5541 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90042
three lives & company / 154 W 10th St, New York, NY 10014
meeting is april 19th at 5:00 PM at the Little Cheesman Park (701-799 High St, Denver, CO 80218) !
macrh 2025
Sandwich
by Catherine Newman
When do we stop crying? When my brother was little, he cried all the time. Sometimes understandably, like when we rode It’s A Small World at Disneyland (those little dolls are scary) and sometimes for reasons I couldn’t wrap my little head around; maybe both of our thick bangs haircuts were creating a barrier. When I was in high school, I cried watching the Grammys, making breakfast, dog sitting, thinking about a boy I thought I liked. When I was 19, I cried missing my mom, when my girlfriend was mean to me, when I felt like a stranger in my own body. I don’t cry much at all anymore. Not because there isn’t anything to cry about (there always is), but because I think that if I started I may not stop. Usually I squeal or talk to myself to keep from crying. After a day of teaching music lessons to little kids, I drive home in my red Jeep and think about how much I love them, how teaching makes me think I could be a mother. Instead of crying, I smile and squeal and listen to my “born to be somebody then somebody comes from me” playlist. When my partner and I have a conflict I don’t need to cry every time because I know we will figure it out. When I miss my friends I call them and make plans. Things are not as life or death as they once felt.
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When things did feel so dire all the time, I cried at all sorts of art. On a field trip with my French class senior year of high school, I cried in front of the Monet’s. I’d lay on the floor of Lulu’s living room, openly sobbing to pop music that we felt reflected our private journals. I saw Ladybird in theatres 7 times just for the rush of tears.
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These days, it takes a lot to make me cry. Is this growing up? I don’t want to lose my sensitivity; I want to be delicate and soft forever. Maybe my skin is just thicker. Maybe the art I’m consuming is less emotional. I don’t really know. The upside to this infrequency is that, when I do cry, it’s memorable. In the past year, I’ve cried about the following: my girlfriends incapability to impregnate me, Chappell Roan performing on SNL, when my 8 year old student told me at the end of our lesson that she hates when she has to leave me, and reading Catherine Newman’s We All Want Impossible Things.
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Silly Ella Luna, you may be thinking to yourself, the name of the book you chose is Sandwich! And you are right! My crying was plot driven when reading We All Want Impossible Things, but I fell in love with Newman’s writing. Sandwich is all beauty and emotion, minus the intense grieving. So because I love you all and want to cause no suffering, I chose the ladder for March book club.
Sandwich is set on a summer vacation, with our characters making up a family of Mom, Dad, and “grown up children.” Told from the perspective of Mom, Rocky, this is a story about motherhood and womanhood. It’s about menopause. It’s about feeling like your body is betraying you, about masquerading unconditional love for your daughter as nonchalance as to not scare her away, about offering wisdom and guidance to your son's girlfriend. I read this book in the last few days of 2024 in Los Angeles. I will read it again now. I hope you love it.
How Alive Your Heart To Feel Such Sorrow,
Ella
march media
film -
​waitress: the musical (2023) dir. diane paulus, brett sullivan
​tell it to the bees (2019) dir. annabel jankel
​inside out 2 (2024) dir. Kelsey Mann​
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music -
​julius eastman, vol 1: feminine by julius eastman
live at the symphony by ella luna
tracy chapman by tracy chapman
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places -
beacon hill books & cafe / 71 Charles St, Boston, MA 02114
alleycat coffee house / 120 1/2 W Laurel St A, Fort Collins, CO 80524
denver central library / 10 W 14th Ave, Denver, CO 80204
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february 2025
Lucy
by Jamaica Kincaid
When Erin and I were living in Southern California, one of my favorite things we would do is hop on the electric bike and ride over to Vroman’s to sit in the book bar, order a pomegranate mocktail, and read our books side by side. It was especially fun on Thursday’s when there would be a live jazz trio at the bar. After we were finished with the drink and reading portion, we would wander the bookshelves. Erin pointed out Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid, with the comment “Oh I’ve been wanting to read this forever. I’m going to get it,” and that she did! The next several coffee and bar trips consisted of Erin reading Lucy across from me, pausing every now and then to tell me that it was “so good” and that I “needed to read it,” and so I did! It’s rare and special to have a moment of “why didn’t I know about ____ sooner?” Whether it be a food, a band, a life hack, or an author, uncovering something that is somewhat of a secret is always a thrill.
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Unbeknownst to me, Jamaica Kincaid has been a prominent figure in literature since the mid-1970’s. She was born in St.Johns, the capital and largest city of Antigua and Barbuda, as Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson. (A Small Place is a gorgeous novella Kincaid wrote in 1988 about her home.) She changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid in 1973, saying the change was "a way to do things without being the same person who couldn't do them — the same person who had all these weights.” She wrote many pieces for The New Yorker for 20 years, eventually resigning in 1996 when the magazine began to be too “celebrity oriented” for Kincaid’s taste. She has since said that during her time at The New Yorker, she would often be questioned by people as to how she got to where she was, Kincaid quotes "-from nowhere… I have no credentials. I have no money. I literally come from a poor place. I was a servant. I dropped out of college. The next thing you know I'm writing for The New Yorker, I have this sort of life, and it must seem annoying to people.”
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I knew I wanted to highlight Jamaica Kincaid for book club; all of the books I’ve read of hers are under 200 pages, so I really could choose anything for the short month of February. I considered Annie John, which I read this summer in Oregon and absolutely loved, but I ended on Lucy, because there really is nothing like the first time you uncover that hidden gem, even if you are the only person in the world it was hidden from. This novella, originally published in 1990, follows narrator Lucy as she works as an au pair for a wealthy white family after coming to the US from the West Indies. Insightful, beautifully written, and emotional, this novel has something to offer every reader. Join me at Petals & Pages of Denver Sunday February 23rd at 5:00 PM to chat all about this wonderful work.
With All Love & Tenderness,
Ella
film -
daughters (2024) dir. natalie rae, angela patton
are you there god? it's me, margaret. (2023) dir. kelly freman craig
bottoms (2023) ​dir. emma seligman
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music -
sling by clairo
patterns in repeat by laura marling
endlessness by nala sinephro​
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places -
hudson hill / 619 E 13th Ave, Denver, CO 80203
elliott bay book company / 152110th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122
cha cha matcha / 1158 Broadway, New York, NY 10001
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february media
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january 2025
Owls & Other Fantasies by Mary Oliver
Love & Love & Love Again,
Ella (this is me when I wrote this)
New Year's Day is my favorite holiday; I love the idea of a fresh start, or this significant moment to acknowledge the growth of myself and of the world. I loved January 1st of 2018, a day spent listening to jazz standards in Lulu’s sunroom and going to see Ladybird in theatres for the 6th time. I loved January 1st of 2024, a day spent with my head in Erin’s lap, reading a book I love in the backyard while Grace takes a nap upstairs. I loved January 1st of 2022, a day spent picking lemons from my neighbor’s tree and trying to skateboard outside my first house in Los Angeles. I know I will love January 1st 2025 no matter what because it will be a day spent with the love of my life. This is the second New Year’s Day in which I get to choose a book to share with you. Last year, January was the first EVER month of the Ella Luna Book Club, and I chose to read Marigold & Rose by Louise Glück because it’s an adult fairy tale. This year I want to open book club with something of equal tenderness and magic, and there was only one answer: Mary Oliver.
It’s upsetting to admit that the person to introduce me to the work of Mary Oliver was none other than the girl I lost my virginity to, but lucky for me, when I love an artist as much as I do Mary Oliver, it is impossible for me to associate them with anyone but myself. While I was familiar with her poetry via Blue Iris (gifted to me by said girl for my 18th birthday), I had my come-to-Jesus (or rather, come-to-Mary) with her after my breakup with the girl I was in love with (not to be confused with the girl I lost my virginity to) when I was 19. I picked up Owls & Other Fantasies, I had a spiritual connection to The Kingfisher, specifically the line “I think this is the prettiest world - so long as you don’t mind a little dying, how could there be a day in your whole life that doesn’t have its splash of happiness?” Which is to say, I was not in the best frame of mind, and was desperate for hope, and Mary Oliver was the light at the end of the tunnel.
This year, there is an overwhelming presence of fear and hate in the world, and it’s easy to get drowned in helplessness and hopelessness. Let this poetry collection be a reminder to you of all that is good in the world. And there is SO MUCH good in the world, I see it everyday. I see it in the poetry-reading-turned-proposal in the bookstore I work in. I see it in the smiles of my music students. I see it in the messages I get from people all around the world who like my music. If you know where to look, you will see the good in so many places and so many people. This is the prettiest world. Happy new year my friends! I cannot wait for another year of sharing books & music together.​
january media
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film -
little women (2019) dir. greta gerwig
portrait of a lady on fire (2019) dir. céline sciamma
beauty & the beast (1991) dir. gary trousdale​
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music -
baroque improvisation by gabriela montero
flower of the soul by liana flores
ella fitzgerald sings the harold arlen song book by ella fitzgerald​
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places -
mildred & gertrude / 2809 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98112
magers & guinn / 3038 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55408
the corner beet / 1401 Ogden St, Denver, CO 80218
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