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.

Karl Sagrabb is reading Permafrost by SJ Norman

This debut collection of short stories is striking and incisive, exploring desire and loss, and playing with, subverting, and inverting classic traditions of literature like the Romantic and the Gothic.

I absolutely adore work that plays around with Gothic traditions and, having written my thesis on Romantic art, I love to see books that engage in fresh ways with Romanticism. SJ Norman does it immaculately.

The prose is wonderful, and the voice in each story is powerful and compelling. Auto-fiction is plentiful and popular in the zeitgeist and Permafrost falls within this milieu, but is much sharper and punchier than many other iterations. I love it!

Molly Smith is reading Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au

My current read is a short and resonant novel from Melbourne author Jessica Au. Cold Enough for Snow follows a mother and adult daughter on their holiday to Japan, though the events of the holiday itself are not truly the focus. Like raindrops down the glass of a window, the turns of the narrative seem to meander, slowing here and gaining momentum there. Yet, stepping back from the intricate minutiae of the characters’ experiences, the wider direction becomes clear.

The combination of love, entitlement, care and frustration which lies within the relationship of daughter and mother is something which is often written about - but here, Au has managed to evoke something unique. The space between what the characters say to one another, the disjointed movements of their interactions, speak far more than even they seem to realise. In this careful and indirect way, Au manages to conjure a level of nuance which is almost beyond language - the sort of feeling or idea which would be oddly clipped if put into words.

Gentle and powerful in equal measure - this book certainly deserves the praise it has received thus far.

Kim Gruschow is reading Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

I just finished reading the novel Greta and Valdin, which is a book I’d been hearing about A LOT from friends in New Zealand. It’s a debut set in Auckland about two young people and their chaotic Russian/Māori family, it’s truly hilarious with a rare and genuine warmth to it, I loved it.