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.

Chris Gordon is reading Working Class Boy by Jimmy Barnes

Last night, I started reading Jimmy Barnes’ forthcoming memoir about his childhood Working Class Boy. I didn’t expect to be captivated. I didn’t expect that his story would be one of poverty, abuse and addiction. I didn’t expect to be moved by his story, or inspired. I was wrong on all counts.

For his first autobiography, Barnes does not hold back. He tells the story of the grime and crime, the threats and violence, that populated his early years with refreshing directness: this was his lot, and these are his scars. It’s not only Barnes’ Scottish origins that have made him such a memorable storyteller, but also his honesty which feels all too raw in the memoir.

Ed. note: Jimmy Barnes’ memoir is due to be released on 19 September. We’re thrilled to be hosting a special event with him at the Melbourne Athenaeum in celebration of the book’s release on Monday, 26 September. Find out more

Mike Shuttleworth is reading The Book That Made Me edited by Judith Ridge

What makes a reader? People come to books through many paths as these personal reflections by leading writers for young people shows.

For Alison Croggon, like Alice opening the bottle labeled Drink Me, it was Lord of the Rings, read in a single sitting at the age of ten. (Though it was thirty years before she launched upon writing her own fantasy series.) The late, brilliant Mal Peet has a story about his obsession with comics spanning a poor childhood in rural England all the way to Warwick University. Ursula Dubosarsky’s elegant poem about the discovery of reading itself is just simply magic. And Shaun Tan punctuates the chapters with some clever comics.

What makes The Book That Made Me more than an exercise in nostalgia is the way contributors reveal how books attach themselves to our lives, how they echo down the years and shape our lives. In doing so they demonstrate why reading remains such an essential part of the life of every child.

Royalties go to support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. A marvelous book.

Stella Charls is reading Weightless by Sarah Bannan

I’ve recently become addicted to The Good Wife. I somehow missed this insanely entertaining TV drama the first time around (back when everyone I knew was watching it) and I’m making up for this now by binge-watching episodes. But despite how much fun I’m having with this show (so much fun), I’ve been itching to get back to books and wanted an entry point that didn’t feel too challenging. So I picked up a copy of Weightless by Sarah Bannan.

Bannan’s thrilling story about a high school in a small town in Alabama was un-put-downable. I inhaled this book in one night, so anxious was I to find out what would happen to Carolyn Lessing, the new girl at Adams High. Bannan’s narrative voice for the most part belongs to Nicole, Jessica and Lauren. These three 16-year-olds dress the same way, talk the same way and crave the same social status – for the majority of the novel they narrate as a collective ‘we’ and it is a convincingly teenage voice, lending a flippant, gossipy tone to events. This clever novel builds in pace and tension so deliciously. While the subject matter is disturbing, Bannan’s take on bullying feulled by social media is fresh and would appeal to both teenage and adult readers. This book reminded me of Megan Abbott’s Dare Me, and I would recommend Weightless to any fan of Abbott’s writing.

Bronte Coates is reading The Mare by Mary Gaitskill

Mary Gaitskill’s much-hyped new book, The Mare, has only just been made available in Australia and I finally got my hands on a copy this week.

The story has a complex relationship at its heart. Ginger is a recovering alcoholic who’s only decided to have children late in life. When she can’t persuade her husband to adopt (he already has a teenage daughter from a previous marriage), the two of them instead sign up to an organisation that sends poor inner-city kids to stay with country families for a few weeks in the summer. Velvet is a Dominican girl from one of Brooklyn’s toughest neighbourhoods, and Ginger is instantly besotted by her. The novel, which seems to be partially inspired by Gaitskill’s own experiences, is largely narrated by both Ginger and Velvet, with some interjections from other characters.

Earlier this week I also finished reading an early copy of a terrific non-fiction book, The Dragon Behind The Glass. Journalist Emily Voig sets out to make sense of human’s current obsession with the Asian arowana – the world’s most expensive aquarium fish – and the result is a riveting mash-up of pop science, history, true crime, and travel adventure.