Ella Berman’s Recommended Reading List
Ella Berman is the author of the anticipated novel L.A. Women, releasing tomorrow, August 4th, 2025. Her debut novel, The Comeback, was selected as a Read with Jenna book club pick, and her follow-up, Before We Were Innocent, was a Reese’s Book Club pick.
To celebrate the release of her third novel, Ella shares her recommended reading list with us below!
To learn more about Ella and her inspiring career, visit here.
“I won’t stop talking about this book. It's radically honest and very funny —it still makes me laugh out loud when I pick it up. Alic is brilliantly adept at poking fun at millennial delusions, but even the most irreverent of stories has an emotional sting in its tail.”
“I was captivated by Franklin’s prose from the first page. The book opens with an arrest for cocaine possession but what follows is a story of grace as Smith navigates grief, hedonism and queer desire in New York City. Franklin's writing is beautiful as he explores Smith’s experience and the intersection of race and privilege.”
“It's impossible to summarise this book in a way that does it justice, but it follows Martha as she navigates her forty-something existence with an (unnamed but no less devastating) mental illness. Rather than feeling weighed down by the heavy subject matter and Martha’s propensity towards self-sabotage, the book is tender and beautiful and funny on every page.”
“A perfect summer read. Precocious teen Cecile spends the summer in the beautiful south of France, left mostly to her own devices by her charming father and his current girlfriend. When her godmother, Anne, arrives the dynamic shifts with tragic consequences. A coming-of-age story with a rotten core, set in a locale so perfectly drawn you can feel the sun on your skin as you read it.”
“Hsu's stunning memoir explores the transformative nature of friendship, identity and grief in America against a vivid backdrop of 90s coastal California. Hsu’s writing style is compelling - honest and self-interrogatory, and all the more gutting for it.”
Read More
