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.

Annie Condon is reading When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

I’ve just finished this memoir from neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi. This book was published posthumously – Kalanithi was diagnosed with cancer, and died at the age of 37. The memoir was started when Kalanithi knew his diagnosis was terminal, and describes his life in medicine. Kalanithi’s first love was words, and he had pictured himself becoming an English professor prior to discovering the beauty in surgery. This is an honest memoir about the difficulties when a doctor becomes the patient, and also the recalibration of life priorities in the face of death. The writing is breathtaking, and I’m not surprised this book is a New York Times bestseller. It’s a book that will remain with me for a long time.

Leanne Hall is reading Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The past few weeks I’ve noticed that teens in our Hawthorn shop have been swarming enthusiastically over a particular book: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. (It has a really great cover – a cold, hard silver crown dripping with red blood.) This week, I gave in to my curiosity and now I know what all the fuss is about. Red Queen is a delicious cross between Game of Thrones, Divergent and a Marvel comic. There’s a gutsy female underdog, treachery, backstabbing, lusty feelings, two hot princely brothers, terrifying superpowers, and a revolution that NEEDS TO HAPPEN. I don’t even know how to describe the complex world Aveyard builds (post-apocalyptic, neo-medievalism?) but it’s compelling and fun.

Mark Rubbo is reading The Other Side of Silence by Philip Kerr

I’m reading Philip Kerr’s forthcoming crime novel. The Other Side of Silence is his 11th book featuring German cop Bernie Gunther and I have to confess I love this series. I can’t recommend them highly enough – although some do fall a bit short, the rest more than make up for it. The first three, March Violets, The Pale Criminal and A German Requiem (later published in a single volume, Berlin Noir) are set prior to WWII and features the struggles Bernie faces as the Nazi’s inch towards power. The books present a brilliant, sordid picture of a country on the brink of horror.

In The Other Side of Silence, the war is over, and Bernie now works as a concierge on the French Riviera. In the opening pages he’s approached by one of his clients who asks if he’d liked to pair in a game of bridge at his uncle’s house. This isn’t just any old uncle but Uncle Somerset Maugham and it soon turns out that the old man is being blackmailed. The Other Side of Silence reminds me again why I like Kerr so much.

Lian Hingee is reading All These Perfect Strangers by Aoife Clifford

I’ve started reading Aoife Clifford’s debut novel on the recommendation of our crime reviewer Fiona. I’ve found myself talking about the book to everyone which has necessitated me googling the pronunciation of Aoife: It’s ‘eee-fah’, for the record, and you’ll want to remember that because I’m certain Aoife Clifford is a name that’s going be reappearing on our shelves for years to come.

If you took the secretive and unreliable narrator of Gone Girl, and plonked her down in the rareified University setting of The Secret History, then gave her a controversial history involving a murder in a small-Australian-town à la The Dressmaker you might end up with something sort of like All These Perfect Strangers. Pen Sheppard is no stranger to controversy after being implicated in the murder of a policeman when she was a teenager. When she escapes her small town for University she thinks she’s left her history behind her, but when the people around her start to die it becomes apparent that the past isn’t ready to let go.

Chris Somerville is reading Patience by Daniel Clowes

This is the first new graphic novel from Daniel Clowes in more than half a decade. The story follows down and out lovers Patience and Jack, and their worries and struggles to get by. After Patience is murderd, we move forwards in time and then back again, as Jack tries to set thing right using time travel. Patience is marked by the flat and dry humour that Clowes has been known for since he published his cult hit Ghost World, and he also uses the story to show just how disastrous people can be towards each other even when they’re trying to do the right thing. Highly recommended.

Chris Gordon is reading Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

I fought hard, afflicted a rune on my son to make him sleep, and finally I had the novel to myself… Lady Midnight is more of Mortal Instruments adventures from Cassandra Clare, this time in a different city and five years later. The rich mythology (vampires, demons, the Great Hunt) and urban landscape are as enjoyable as ever but I suspect that I will not be as invested in this new love story. I feel a little like I’ve heard this one before, but I’m also hoping I’m wrong.

Meanwhile the rune of my son is keeping him at bay and I should be able to finish my book in peace.