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.

Holly Harper is reading The Widow by Fiona Barton

Last week I was complaining to a colleague about the fact that, while I’d read some really good books lately, there hadn’t been anything that had gripped me in that feverish can’t eat, can’t sleep, must keep reading until I’m done sort of way.

‘I think I’ve got one for you,’ she said. ‘It’s about a woman whose husband has died, but before he passed away it came to light that he was a criminal who’d done terrible things. Now that he’s gone, his widow has the whole world at her door asking if she knows more than she’s letting on, and she’s finally ready to reveal the truth.’

My colleague is an excellent bookseller.

I was intrigued enough to pick it up and start reading. I read one chapter. Then another. When I looked up again I realised I’d forgotten about dinner, and I could either stop reading or skip dinner. I skipped dinner. I spent my entire day off sprawled on the couch, reading Fiona Barton’s The Widow because I just couldn’t put it down.

The beauty of this book lies in not giving too much away – the author is masterful at holding back information until you think you’re going to break, then suddenly revealing another piece of the puzzle. The characters, too, are excellent, from the meek and mousy widow to the professionally pushy journalist who’s aware that one wrong move will send the truth scurrying back into the shadows.

If you’re after a gripping read that’ll have you shunning the outside world, look no further than The Widow.

Stella Charls is reading Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Georgia Blain’s Between a Wolf and a Dog. This affecting novel sensitively deals with some heavy issues, but never reads like an Issues Book. Above all, it’s the story of a family – a highly flawed, dysfunctional family, (my favourite kind) – and Blain’s characters are some of the most interesting I’ve read this year. You can read my review here.

My reading of this novel was definitely influenced by Blain’s monthly column in The Saturday Paper: ‘The Unwelcome Guest’. Here Blain attempts to making sense of her terminal brain tumour and she writes about pain with frankness and warmth. Dealing with aging and illness is a key theme in Between a Wolf and a Dog and a significant contribution to the ongoing discussion about euthanasia. Readers of Karen Hitchcock’s Dear Life, and listeners of Andrew Denton’s podcast, Better Off Dead – this one’s for you.

I’ve also just started reading Blain’s YA dystopian novel, which was also released this month. I don’t normally read YA or dystopian fiction, but I trust Blain and I’m already fascinated by the world she’s created in Special. My colleague Athina called it 'smart, complex, nuanced and deeply thought provoking’ in her review. It definitely is, and I can’t wait to get back to it!

Bronte Coates is reading The Secret Place by Tana French

My colleague Lian raved about Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad crime series in an earlier one of these columns, prompting me to give it a go. I’m very glad I did. The Secret Place is one of those twisty, addictive mysteries that had me staying up far too late in the night to learn what happened.

The book’s premise is simple. One year after the murder of a teenage boy at a prestigious girl’s boarding school, a note is found pinned to a board that reads: ‘I know who killed him’. Two detectives come in to investigate – each with their own agenda – and both know they only have a small window of time to find out who wrote that note before it slams shut. The story flips between their current investigation, and the actions of a group of friends from the school pre-murder. I really loved how the story was driven by the complex relationships and hierarchies between the girls, and I thought French wrote teenagers so well. In fact, I already have another one of her books, In the Woods, sitting in my ‘to-be-read’ pile.

Ann Le Lievre is reading In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri (translated by Ann Goldstein)

I’ve been slowly relishing Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author has always been suspended linguistically somewhere between her birth language, Bengali, and the language she inherited when she moved as a child with her family to America, English. But a third language beckons when she makes her first overseas trip to Florence. (Florence! Where else is there to go?) The year is 1994 and Lahiri is a college student in Boston, studying Renaissance Architecture. The experience piques all her senses: “I’ve come for a week, to see the buildings, to admire the squares, the churches. …the city is humming. I’m aware of a sound that I like of conversations, phrases, words that I hear wherever I go.”

This moment stays with her, and much later in life Lahiri and her family move to in Italy where she is able to realise her dream of absorbing herself in a whole new language. Ultimately, she wants to learn how to express herself in Italian in her writing work. In Other Words is written in this newly discovered language, and Lahiri writes simply – demonstrating her dedication to a language that reveals itself to the author a little more each new day. On each alternate page of Lahiri’s original Italian, readers can find an English translation of the text by Ann Goldstein (the translator of Elena Ferrante’s works).

I share a love of language with Lahiri and her beautifully produced hardcover book offers a deep engagement with this particular passion. In Other Words reminds me of the places another language can take you to; it feels like a little piece of magic.

Chris Gordon is reading Damned Whores and God’s Police by Anne Summers

Anne Summers is one of my heroes – a kind, deliberate, insightful and polished feminist writer. First published in 1975, Damned Whores and God’s Police was a landmark book then, and remains so today. This reissue edition includes a new timeline of key milestones for and by women from 1788 to 2015. I’ve been dipping in and out of this book since my history teacher gifted me a copy in 1985. I had never considered how women were portrayed as either good or bad and Summer’s premise changed my world.

Now, I still I love to read about what women have achieved. I love to talk about this book with my friends and family. I love to leave it lying around so that if anyone in my home has a spare five minutes they can flick through its many, many pages.

And I especially love rereading it now with the thought that soon I will be meeting the incredible Gloria Steinem at our upcoming event!