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 Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars by Martine Murray

This is a story that burrowed into my heart this week and has set up camp in there. Yes, it really got to me that much.

Molly is at the age of noticing how her life compares with the lives of her peers. And what she’s noticed really worries her. Her mother is the barefoot type who knows everything about herbs and weeds, and – seemingly – not very much about Molly’s confused inner-world, in which she’s longing for a more conventional mother and home like that of her sensible friend, Ellen. But if no one else has noticed Molly’s turmoil, the universe has, and it sends Molly a huge and magical test.

This is where the story takes a wonderful turn, relishing in the fact that readers of this age are so open to wildly imaginative plotting. Melbourne author Martine Murray writes with wisdom and clarity about our place in the world, and the place of each one of our problems or worries. But she also leaves some very satisfying work for the young reader to do. Relationships with parents, old friends, new friends, and pets, are sensitively explored with good humour and a lightness of touch. This is a magical gem for middle-to-upper primary readers – and, perhaps, their sentimental parents too…

Nina Kenwood is reading A Fortunate Age by Joanna Rakoff

A Fortunate Age by Joanna Rakoff is a big, juicy literary novel about a bunch of twenty-something New Yorkers in the late 1990s. The main characters all became friends at college, and have stayed in one big, loose friendship group ever since. They are all pursuing creative endeavors, including acting, writing, music and publishing, and seeing varying degrees of success in their fields. Rakoff jumps from one character to another, moving smoothly through time, covering marriages, pregnancies, break ups, affairs, job losses, job promotions and more.

It’s an enjoyable, immersive read, although the big cast characters – and how they all interrelate with each other – means you have to pay attention. I think it’s the kind of book to be taken away on holidays or spend a whole weekend with, so you can fully appreciate the scope of the characters and their lives.

Bronte Coates is reading Baba Yaga’s Assistant by Marika McCoola and illustrated by Emily Carroll

These past few weeks I’ve read two really excellent books which were important to me in very different ways.

The first is Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me which blew me away. I wrote in my review that I cried for the last 50 or so pages without stopping and this is not an exaggeration. Coates’ words are gripping and passionate, and incredibly powerful. You can read an edited extract from the book here, and I strongly urge everyone to read this book.

Kate Beaton, of Hark! A Vagrant fame, has published her first picture book and it is very funny and very adorable. Beaton is one of the most significant writers in my own reading life. A few years ago, in a bid to explain why this is the case, I wrote: “She makes me feel good about being a girl without feeling patronised or intimidated.” And I’m certain The Princess and the Pony will do the same for other younger readers. You can see a sneak peek inside the book here.

Also for younger readers, I’ve just started Marika McCoola’s teen graphic novel Baba Yaga’s Assistant, which has artwork by the acclaimed Emily Carroll (author of Through the Woods). This debut release is a multi-layered, playful exploration of Russian folklore that sees a lonely, smart teenager applying to be an assistant for Baba Yaga.

Alexandra Mathew is watching Nashville

Recently my colleague Kushla said to me, ‘Alex, you have got to watch Nashville. I think you’ll love it’. And she pushed the DVDs in to my hand.

At first I was extremely dubious of Kushla’s assertions. It’s not that I don’t like country music (I’m a big fan of Emmylou Harris), but it’s more that I prefer classical music and generally choose to read a book over watching television. Nonetheless, I promised Kushla I would watch two episodes before passing any judgment. And now… I’m fifteen episodes in, and completely obsessed. More fool me for ever thinking I would dislike a television show based on some very superficial assumptions.

Nashville was created by Callie Khouri, who is best-known to me for writing the Thelma & Louise screenplay. She describes herself as a feminist, which is unsurprising considering the strong female characters she creates. In fact, that’s what I love best about Nashville – this is a show largely unconcerned with old white male country singers, and is instead about women on top and in control.