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.

Emily Gale is reading Cloudwish by Fiona Wood

This week it was my pleasure to read Fiona Wood’s young adult novel, Cloudwish, the third in a series of connected stories that can be read completely independently of each other or as a set. Six Impossible Things introduces us to some characters in Year 9, Wildlife picks up the story of one of those characters in Year 10, and Cloudwish takes a very quiet character from Wildlife and gives her centre stage.

This was not the first time I had read Cloudwish, and it won’t be the last, because Fiona’s writing is like a favourite song to me.

Cloudwish is about a scholarship student with artistic ambitions, Vân U’oc Phan, who has been leading a life completely under the radar at the private school she attends, until what appears to be a magical occurrence. Vân U’oc makes a wish on a mysterious glass vial, brought in by a visiting author, and it seems to come true – or why else would the cocky rich kid and star rower, Billy Gardiner, suddenly be taking an interest in her? Although the story sounds like a romance, it is so much more. The everyday magic that can sometimes baffle even the most logical among us, forces this brilliant young protagonist to examine the way she feels about herself, as well as the way she feels about the (mostly) privileged students she spends her days avoiding. It also leads her into a confrontation with her parents’ past that is illuminating, heartbreaking, but ultimately a source of strength.

Vân U’oc Phan privately uses Jane Eyre as one of her heroes (for although she’s quiet on the outside, her inner world is noisy, astute and energetic), but by the end she proves herself to be a very worthy hero for modern young Australians, or indeed anyone. This is certainly one of my favourite young adult novels of the last few years.

Alison is reading Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash

Some of the best recommendations I get come from colleagues, and I give Jason Austin full credit for introducing me to Ron Rash via Serena several years ago. Since then, Rash has become one of my favourite writers and I’ve read everything he’s written. One of the many things that I admire about his writing is his ability to take both you and his characters to the edge of what you think you and they can bear, and then he takes you all further. He’s just so good at creating atmosphere and tension.

I’m in the middle of his new book, Above the Waterfall, and the pressure is building. It’s a tough story about a town in the Appalachian mountains, and its community that is lost in many ways – to tragedy, to conflict, to the scourge of crystal meth. I can’t wait to get back to it over the weekend.

Nina is feeling overwhelmed by her to-read pile

It’s almost September, and that means boxes and boxes of new releases are arriving, and that means I am completely overwhelmed by all the books I want to read right now. (Seriously, take a look through the September issue of the Readings Monthly. So many good books.)

Not helping matters is the fact we announced the shortlist for our Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction this week. I’ve already read three of the shortlisted books: In The Quiet (a beautiful, tender story of a grieving family); Hot Little Hands (a smart, sophisticated collection of short stories); and The Other Side of the World (a masterful portrait of a difficult marriage). I plan to start reading the three shortlisted books I haven’t read - Arms Race, Last Day in the Dynamite Factory and Heat and Light - very soon. I am also dying to read Fever of Animals, a debut novel written by Readings bookseller Miles Allison that has been garnering praise from everyone who reads it.

Other books on my immediate to-read pile: Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes (I’ve read a few rave reviews), The Anti-Cool Girl by Rosie Waterland (like half of Australia, I read Rosie’s Bachelor recaps), Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford (Prep meets Gossip Girl – yep, I’m in) and The Seed Collectors by Scarlett Thomas (our reviewer describes it as ‘smart, funny and satirical’).

Elke is reading My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

I have been looking forward to reading the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante for so long that I was a little worried they wouldn’t live up to the hype. Having been reliably and emphatically informed by countless sources that this series is irresistible and all consuming, I also held back as I couldn’t trust myself not to become completely absorbed in it. Yet, with the fourth and final book due for release next week, and this discussion of the series rapidly approaching, the time has come. I have finally begun the first book, My Brilliant Friend , and my worries on the score of hype have already abated. That’s all I’ll say for now, I need to get back to my reading!