Each week our amazing staff bring you a sample of the books or music they're immersed in.

Baz Ozturk is reading Cold Nights of Childhood by Tezer Özlü & Maureen Freely (trans.)

Translated and published into English for the first time this year, this modern Turkish classic is a beautiful, brutal and surprisingly life-affirming novella. It’s the story of a woman – in and out of psychiatric wards, being forcefully treated with electroshock therapy – struggling to assert her will in a repressive patriarchal and nationalist society.

I liked this a lot. The economy and deftness of the writing. The lightness of the prose, the mild lyricism and sensuality – Özlu’s charming voice, brazen and serene. It’s a great, gently fierce read. The ending, which I won’t hint at with any description, was very moving.

Emma Davison is reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

After me and my coworker realised we share similar bookish tastes and a pull towards stories about eccentric women we decided to read one of the originators of the so-called ‘sad girl novel’, Shirley Jackson. We Have Always Lived in the Castle was the book of choice and I loved it. This is an unsettling tale which follows Merricat, a young woman who lives in the Blackwood family home with her sister Constance and Uncle Julian. All Merricat wants is to live in peace and solitude but ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of their family, they are always regarded with suspicion from the outside world.

This is the first Shirley Jackson novel I have read and I’m annoyed at myself for taking so long to read her. This story was claustrophobic and unsettling but also really funny! I have been fascinated by Shirley Jackson ever since finishing this, she really is a remarkable author. It is clear she projects a lot of her private torment into her work and I found, on reflection, that the two sisters in this story certainly seem to be two parts of the same person, reflecting the duality of the female experience and Jackson's own sense of self as well. The Haunting of Hill House is next on my list!

Chris Gordon is reading The Seven by Chris Hammer

In a feat of pure madness I decided to read up on philosophers that have shaped our very consciousness simply because I envy those that can recite Kant or Nietzsche at the drop of a hat (I'm better on 1980s song lyrics). This is not an idea that is preposterous but I think my timing was out. I'm busy at the moment and my mind is filled with lists upon lists. Why should I add a memory game to it the chaos? And is envy ever a reason to learn? Could I even finish a book with so many thoughts racing through my very being? 

Chris Hammer came to the rescue in the nick of time. Just as my head was exploding, Hammer's new crime novel, The Seven came along to save my sad and sorry state. Chris Hammer writes beautifully. The story unfolds at a perfect pace that even the exhausted reader can follow. This is not to say it isn't a page turner, oh – it is. Step-by-step, with my favourite homicide detectives Nell and Ivan, crimes are uncovered and lives are saved. It is all very pleasing and satisfactory. It's also set here in Australia and there is even a reference to Lygon Street coffee!

I don't know how or why but reading crime novels clears my head. They make me believe that behaviours have consequences and that anything is possible. I mean, didn't someone I know say ... that which does not kill us makes us stronger (surprise! – it was the love lord himself: F.N).