Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on or the music we’re loving.

Stella Charls is listening to the podcasts from this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival

Who needs to travel interstate for the Sydney Writers’ Festival (or even leave your house) when you can listen to the incredible range of festival session now available as podcasts. I am completely addicted!

The festival are releasing two new recordings every week or so, and working my way through them all is bringing me so much joy. Favourites so far have been two authors whose non-fiction books have been sitting on my ‘to be read’ pile for quite a while now… Helen Macdonald (H is for Hawk) and Atul Gawande (Being Mortal) are both authors who I feared would be far too intellectual for me to wrap my head around, but I’m very glad to be proven wrong. Listening to Macdonald and Gawande speak confirms for me that they are accessible and entertaining – as engaging and funny as they are clever.

Mark Rubbo is reading Muse by Jonathan Galassi

I’ve recently started reading Jonathan Galassi’s first novel, Muse. Galassi is the President and publisher at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, the legendary New York literary house and, fittingly, Muse is a tongue-in-cheek look at modern publishing. The book’s central character is Paul Dukach, head of a small yet esteemed publisher, who is obsessed with the legendary poet Ida Perkins. It’s a lot of fun so far.

Fiona Hardy is reading Dietland by Sarai Walker

A book so utterly current that I wasn’t sure if it had just jumped freshly-made directly from my Twitter feed into my lap, Dietland is intense and fun, rewarding and shocking. I was prowling the shelves last week for something new, and when I saw the cover of this book I remembered that I’d read a review of it from my colleague Nina (find it here). Nina’s review had already made the story sound just like my cup of tea, and my quick read of the beginning made me immediately clutch the novel to my chest and rush over to the counter. Dietland is well-written and never boring. I wish I could think of a different word than quirky – but you think of your favourite word close to that and you’re right on the money.

Plum Kettle is a writer of fan mail replies to a fashion magazine, and she’s planning gastric bypass surgery after years of low self-esteem. She awaits the future ahead, the one she is buying smaller clothes for already, when she realises someone is following her. Could this person show her a different way out of her unhappiness?

Part satire, part truth-bomb, part actual bombs, Dietland is some kind of manifesto and I wish that it had been longer.

Bronte Coates is reading The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

I have just got my hands on an early copy of Patrick Ness’ upcoming novel, due for release in late August. I’m a little apprehensive as I’m a big fan of Ness’ earlier books for teens and this one seems like it will be very different; a quick dip into the first few pages brought to mind John Green as opposed to Philip Pullman. But I’m also very intrigued by the book’s (utterly fantastic) premise.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here follows the lives of a group of teenagers who aren’t the chosen ones, but just happen to live in the same town as them. So, imagine if the events in a show like Buffy were shown from the perspective of one of the extras, or if the events in the Harry Potter books were narrated by one of the boy wizard’s unnamed classmates. The unnamed narrator in this case is Mikey, who just wants to graduate and work up the courage to ask out the girl he’s has a crush on for years. And spend some quality time with his best friend, who might also just be the God of Mountain Lions. All this sounds very meta and funny and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the book over the weekend.

Chris Gordon is reading The Short History of Richard Kline Amanda Lohrey

I’ve always enjoyed a fable set within familiar landscapes, so it was with glee that I started reading this modern day fairy tale. Set against the backdrop of domestic life in the Sydney suburbs, the novel centres on Richard Kline – an intelligent, middle-class man with an almost unbearable resistance to contentment. His quest to find truth in his existence leads him to the teachings of Buddhism. Is this believable? I’m sure it is. I’m sure that a level of internal discomfort must take people to source alternative life choices. Lohrey makes the telling dispassionate in some ways and positions us readers as observers which allows her novel to becomes a documentary of a kind. I found this a very interesting read.