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.

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Lian Hingee is reading Unnecessary drama by Nina Kenwood

So apparently mind-reading isn’t real, and it’s impossible to look at someone and know exactly what’s going on in their head, but honestly I have no other explanation for how Nina Kenwood managed to crack open my skull and write every single one of my secret neuroses down in exquisite detail in her hilarious and desperately relatable second novel Unnecessary Drama.

Eighteen year old Brooke has left home for the first time and is moving into a share house in Melbourne before starting her first year of University. Brooke is ... well, Brooke is me. She’s responsible, and fastidious, a homebody, a control freak. She works very hard to appear approachable because she worries that people don’t actually like her. She’s secretly competitive, has a rich inner dialogue, worries entirely too much what people think about her, takes things personally, and can hold a grudge until the end of time. The last one causes some issues when it’s revealed that one of Brooke’s new housemates is actually her arch nemesis from high school: the boy who broke her heart mere moments after giving Brooke her first kiss.

Full of glorious unresolved tension, meaningful looks, misunderstandings, big feelings and romantic tropes, Unnecessary Drama is a gorgeous book. It made me laugh and it made me cringe and it made me swoon.

Chris Gordon is reading Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng’s new novel, Our Missing Hearts  has caused me to pause and consider the last few years. It could have been worse. Will it get worse?  Are we heading into a deeper crisis of control, fear and poverty? Are our collective voices going to be dismantled? Are we already there?

Celeste Ng has written a book centring on one family ripped apart by rules and restrictions. The novel is billed as being about a son and a mother’s bond, but it is Ng's future dystopian landscape that has completely enticed me into this story. It is not a new concept in literature – an oppressive government taking over – but Ng’s power is to reach for the subtle fairytale details. Imagine the gothic horror of vines creeping towards door handles, painted hearts on footpaths and empty bookshelves. This is a novel that will raise your anxiety levels but will also draw you to poetry, to history and to consider the cost of being silent. I reckon this book should have been billed as revolutionary. And a heart breaker.

Mark Rubbo is reading Italian Life: A Modern Fable of Loyalty and Betrayal by Tim Parks

As Parks says, we think that deep down people are the same the world over, experience things in the same way. In this collection of fables, however, he shows that In Italy, Italians approach their jobs and their relationships in ways that are quite different; favours and patronage dominate Italian life and manners in ways that are at once perplexing, charming and often humorous.