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.

Stella Charls is reading Redeployment by Phil Klay and Hot Little Hands by Abigail Ulman

I’ve been simultaneously reading two very different short story collections: Phil Klay’s Redeployment and an early copy of Abigail Ulman’s Hot Little Hands (this release will hit stores in late February).

Winner of the 2014 National Book Award, Redeployment is definitely deserving of all the hype (see here). These are exceptional stories – sharply observed, darkly funny and intensely affecting. In capturing the frontline experience of America’s Iraq conflict, Klay truly speaks to the heart of the human condition. While some stories (see ‘Money as a Weapons System’) have made me laugh, for the most part this book is breaking my heart. I’m struggling to put it down.

Ullman’s Hot Little Hands offers a completely different reading experience. Ullman’s characters are grappling with female desire in conflicting ways. These teenage and twenty-something protagonists live in San Fransisco, Vladivostock and suburban Melbourne They are all still growing up – they’re confused, funny and (sometimes embarrassingly) familiar. In a similar vein to Lena Dunham success with Girls and Not That Kind of Girl, Ulman’s strength as a storyteller stems from her ability to present the experiences of young women as strikingly relatable, as well as entertaining. Ullman is a Melbourne-San Franciscan-New Yorker author, and I’m looking forward to seeing more from her in the future.

Isobel Moore is reading Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford

It’s not exactly reading… But this week I’m colouring Enchanted Forest by the amazing Johanna Basford.

Basford’s first book (Secret Garden) is a beautifully intricate and delicate colouring book that has been a big hit across all age groups and her latest offering looks to be just as good. I’m very much enjoying a few nice peaceful evenings with my freshly-sharpened pencils and the book’s absolutely gorgeous illustrations.

For a fun idea to try with your kids – I like to cut the pages into envelope shapes afterwards and use the bright pages to send letters to friends!

Nina Kenwood is reading Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

A friend told me that the mini-series Olive Kitteridge was fantastic and that prompted me to finally buy the Pultizer Prize-winning book.

Structured as a novel told in stories, the character of Olive Kitteridge appears throughout, linking the narrative together. I completely fell in love with Strout’s gentle prose and her brutal, heartbreaking tales of everyday life in a small American town. This book is so, so good. I read the last story with tears welling in my eyes.

I wrote recently about keeping a spreadsheet record of every book I read. On it, Olive Kitteridge has earned a rare A+ grading. Read it!

Bronte Coates is reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Simply put…. This book is so much fun that my typing of this very sentence has already been interrupted three times by my wild gestures (now four). Yet another one in my long, long list of ‘books I’ve heard a great deal about but never found time to read previously’, John Berendt’s account about life (and a murder!) in Savannah, Georgia makes for fantastic reading. It’s gossipy and addictive, and highly recommended.