Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Ellen Cregan is reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

For the past five years, various, trusted sources have recommended Station Eleven to me. Last weekend, I finally got around to reading it and absolutely loved it. This book is the intersection of a few things I love in fiction: Shakespeare, pandemics and tough…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Mark Rubbo is reading The White Girl by Tony Birch

I’ve been reading The White Girl by Tony Birch. I love Tony’s work, and this is his best yet. Set in the sixties, an elderly Aboriginal woman fears that her pale-skinned granddaughter will be taken away from her. She will go to any lengths to…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Mark Rubbo is reading Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change by Jared Diamond

I’ve been reading Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change by Jared Diamond. So far, the case studies I’ve read (Finland, Japan and Australia) are fascinating, although some of the facts don’t quite jell. Diamond has a theory to…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Chris Gordon is reading A Universe of Sufficient Size by Miriam Sved

The Hungarian people have had their hearts ripped out of their country for years, but yet they have retained a wonderful pride in their heritage. I’m married to a second generation Hungarian and this is what I’ve learnt about Hungarians; that innate mentioned…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Fiona Hardy is reading Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales

After selling piles of Leigh Sales’ book on trauma, I was looking forward to reading Any Ordinary Day for my book club last week, even though it seemed obvious that a book about the very worst day of peoples’ lives would require tissues to read…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Lian Hingee is reading The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

I’ve just finished reading The Flatshare by debut writer Beth O’Leary. Set in London, it’s the story of Tiffy Moore – a poorly-paid editorial assistant with a dreadful ex-boyfriend – who answers an advertisement for a housemate, and finds herself sharing not only a flat, but…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Chris Gordon is reading The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone by Felicity McLean

Last week I read the wonderful The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone by Felicity McLean. This is an atmospheric read about a summer in 1992 when three girls disappear from a small Australian town. McLean evokes such a strong sense of time…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Chris Gordon is reading The Glad Shout by Alice Robinson

The premise of The Glad Shout by Alice Robinson completely threw me. Set in the (not-so-distant) future, Australia is flooded, and the main protagonist, Isobel, is left with her daughter in a survival site at the city’s main sports oval – essentially a refugee camp…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Mark Rubbo is reading Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley

I’ve been reading Tessa Hadley’s Late in the Day. Two middle-class couples – a teacher, an artist, a gallery owner and a dilettante – are inseparable. Add in death, adultery, fame, and angst and you might get a saucy romp – but you…

Read more ›

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Ellen Cregan is reading Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This novel follows the rise and fall of a legendary rock band from the 1970s, The Six, whose journey to fame took off when they were joined by singer and ‘it girl’ Daisy Jones. The book is written in a ‘rockumentary’ interview…

Read more ›