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.

Pilgrim Hodgson is reading Rawblood by Catriona Ward.

To read a Catriona Ward book is to take her hand and trust, as she leads you on very dark, unpredictable path. Having recently read her bleak and bloody second novel Little Eve and her mind-bending and chilling latest work The Last House On Needless Street, I became intrigued about what her debut, Rawblood, might be like; I should have known better than to expect a conventional historical novel from Ward! Rawblood tells of Ivy Villarca, child of two supposedly cursed bloodlines, and the ancestors that lived and died before her. It’s hard to do justice to the sweeping tragedy Ward takes us through, except to say that the writing is often powerfully moving while building to a brilliantly executed climax.

As much as I love gothic horror, it is a genre defined by its cliches - yet Catriona Ward’s writing embodies the spirit of the genre, while never relying on tired tropes. A perfect author for this cold, dark season!

Clare Millar is re-reading Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley.

Anyone who knows me (even just on Twitter!) will know I’m obsessed with glassblowing. I was talking about this in the office recently, and my colleague Jess piped up and asked if I’d read Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley. I had back when I was a teenager, but I couldn’t think of the connection until she mentioned the character Lucy is a keen glassblower. So I picked this up for a re-read, and it was just as daringly adventurous as I remembered it, but with the added bonus of of the wistful descriptions of glass and art more generally. I love the way Crowley captured how captivating the art form is (as well as the whims of teen romance!), and it already has me longing to be back in the studio after lockdown.

Lou Ryan is diving into the Writers on Writers series, beginning with On Thomas Keneally.

I just finished my first book in the Black Inc. MUP/SLV series Writers on Writers. If this is the standard, I’ll read them all. Stan Grant reflects on Tom Keneally’s The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, Keneally’s 1972 Booker Prize nominated novel. Keneally’s character is based on the true story of Jimmy Governor. Stan’s essay offers a contemporary First Nations perspective and critiques Keneally’s non-Indigenous Australian viewpoint.

Stan Grant’s essay is fiercely intelligent and firmly critical of The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, but very gentle with Tom Keneally. It is disturbing, eye-opening and so very sad. This country has so much work to do and Stan Grant is the man to guide us.