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 reading You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

I seem to have spent a lot of time on this blog raving about Megan Abbott (see here and here). I only discovered her work last year and I subsequently felt obligated to share her with pretty much everyone I’ve crossed paths with since. I inhaled her psychological thrillers The End of Everything and Dare Me – both books are unsettling coming-of-age narratives laced with intrigue, and kept me up long into the night.

So it’s no surprise that Abbott’s new novel is my favourite international read of 2016 so far. Abbott has proved her incredible skill in capturing the muddy desires and longing of adolescence, but what sets You Will Know Me apart from her previous work is that it’s narrated by the mother of a teenage girl (a competitive gymnast), rather than the girl herself. This expertly paced mystery is laced with sexual tension and centres around a dysfunctional family. My colleague Amy put in best in her review: ‘This novel is fast and fevered and slippery, hard and sharp and hot, and it’s Megan Abbott at her very best.’

You Will Know Me really is that good, and I know I’ll be gifting copies for months to come.

Jason Austin is reading The North Water by Ian McGuire

I am currently reading The North Water by Ian McGuire and it is absolutely amazing. I picked up a copy after learning that every reader on ABC’s The Book Club loved it, and it’s not hard to see why they did. This is a rollicking, albeit violent, tale. Ex-army surgeon Patrick Sumner finds himself broke and bereft after an incident during the Siege of Delhi. The incident has also left his reputation in pieces and he has no option but to take a job as the surgeon on board a whaling ship named The Volunteer. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the work, this ship also attracts the likes of harpooner Henry Drax – a murderer, rapist and all-round nasty character. The two men are thrown together when Drax helps the unconscious surgeon back on board after a night of booze and prostitutes, and discovers a gemstone encrusted ring in Sumner’s personal belongings.

The North Water has me enthralled with its descriptions of what it might have been like to have lived on a nineteenth-century whaling ship. It’s the kind of place where to prosper, or even to survive, murder and blackmail are a means to an end. Often bloody and brutal, this novel is actually the best book that I have read so far this year, and I’m only a quarter of the way through.

Alexandra Mathew is reading Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

I recently got my hands on a reading copy of Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s forthcoming Sarong Party Girls. The premise of the book was notionally similar to Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend: a glimpse into the busy lives of twenty-something Singaporeans. I enjoyed Kwan’s lightweight novels, and was therefore interested to read Sarong Party Girls, but I was disappointed to find the first half of the book unbearably fluffy. I persevered regardless, and I’m glad I did.

Jazzy, the 26-year-old protagonist, is intent on finding a husband. But not just any husband, a white and wealthy one with a respectable job. She therefore has little time for her male Singaporean pursuers. At first I found her irritating: she is an unashamed gold-digger, and her hard drinking habits made me feel a little queasy. But then I started to see life through her eyes, and life for her isn’t easy. The sexism and misogyny depicted in the book disgusted me. Wives, girlfriends and mistresses – often to the one man – were treated for the most part as sex objects. It’s not surprising that Jazzy felt that her only chance of success was to find a good husband, given the secondary status of women within her world. Thankfully, she’s a strong character, and the path she eventually takes is a satisfying one.

Isobel Moore is re-reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I’m rereading Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel (mostly because I needed an excuse to buy this ridiculously beautiful edition of the classic story) and it’s really hitting the spot. I grew up in Yorkshire, the same county in England where the novel is set, and while I don’t think I noticed the distinctive dialect spoken by characters in this book when I first read it as a small child, this stylistic decision is now a lovely reminder of my home and the rhythms of the language feel like a lullaby. The story is slow moving but reassuringly steady, and I’m finding Mary’s transformation from vile, selfish brat into determined, strong young woman as touching as ever.

And I have to mention my latest TV obsession… Parks and Recreation!

I’m thankful that most people at St Kilda are already fans of this show because I have been going on, and on, about it. It’s SO good. For some reason I had the show pegged wrong – I thought that it would be a mean-spirited, biting look at local government and I could not have been more wrong. All of the characters are somewhat terrible people, yes, but they treat one another with so much care, love and friendship that their interactions elevate the show from funny to touchingly sweet on a regular basis.

(And for all of you who are fans… Ron Swanson = Best character ever.)