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.

Lian Hingee is reading My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier

I’ve been wanting to read Justine Larbalestier’s My Sister Rosa since it started doing the rounds with my workmates at the beginning of this year. This story of Che, a young man trying to keep the world safe from his pathological younger sister, is deeply suspenseful and anxiety-inducing – as is Larbalestier’s portrayal of Rosa herself: blonde ringlets, dimples, and totally remorseless.

Ostensibly My Sister Rosa is about Che’s emancipation from the expectations of his family, and the balancing act that he must perform to keep Rosa in check without ever revealing her true nature. But it was the relationship between him and Rosa that I found most interesting. Rosa’s frustration with her limitations, her reliance on Che to teach her how to pass for ‘normal’ in society, and her attempts to find the loopholes in the rules she’s promised to abide by (is it still murder if you convince someone else to commit the murder for you?) provide the book with its most compelling moments.

Leanne Hall is reading The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson

My usual reading style has me hungrily galloping through the pages screaming something along the lines of – ‘MORE! MORE! MORE!’ – but I’m unable to take this tack with The Argonauts. Rather, I’m currently finding my brain stretched in every direction, and in the best possible way.

The Argonauts is a wonderful genre-disregarding beast, full of thoughts, images, poems, memories and extracts from a wide range of philosophers, poets, psychologists, feminists and critical theorists. It’s the kind of book to read out loud with a close friend, and then enjoy picking apart one paragraph for hours. Nelson has created a work that lets the reader into the intimate world of her love partnership and family, as well as engaging the intellect.

Isobel Moore is reading A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill

I just finished The Diggers Rest Hotel by Geoffrey McGeachin, the first in his Detective Charlie Berlin series. I actually wanted to read the third story, St Kilda Blues, because I work in St Kilda – but I felt like I should read them in order… So I bought this first book ages ago, and then put it off for some reason. Now that I’ve finally read it I can confirm that it’s amazing. I really enjoyed the plot, and Berlin is a very charismatic (if somewhat tortured) protagonist. I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Continuing with my historical Australian crime vent, I’m also now about halfway through the first book in the Rowland Sinclair series by Sulari Gentill. A Few Right Thinking Men is a great depiction of the Sydney arts scene in the 30s, mixed in with a worryingly relevant plot about the Red Scare. It’s a lot of fun and I can’t wait to finish it.

Stella Charls is reading A Year in My Real Food Kitchen by Emma Galloway

I have to admit, I have very little patience for the recent proliferation of gluten/lactose intolerance that seems to be affecting pretty much everyone I love/love to eat with. Because I love gluten! Bread is delicious! However I’m trying to become healthier, to cook at home more, and I’m currently living with one vegetarian and one person who is gluten-free.

Emma Galloway’s A Year in My Real Food Kitchen has come to my rescue. Emma (AKA My Darling Lemon Thyme) applies a creative yet practical approach to her vegetarian, gluten-free, ‘fad-free’ recipes, all organised by seasons. Flipping through the book, so many colours and flavours jump out: ‘Saffron Buttered Pumpkin with Herbed Brown Rice’, ‘Silverbeet and Feta Gozleme’, ‘Beetroot Chocolate Cakes’, ‘Plum and Toasted Hazelnut Cake’, and so on. The book itself is beautiful, and I’m really looking forward to trying some of these recipes over the weekend.

Nina Kenwood is reading Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman

I loved this novel. I loved it. But I really think a lot of people might hate it – or at the very least, be rather offended or unsettled by it. In my review, I say: ‘ Girls on Fire is intense, shocking, vicious, intoxicating and violent. It’s Gillian Flynn meets Megan Abbott meets Heathers, with a just a touch of The Craft. The last third of the book, in particular, seems to almost relish going to dark, disturbing (semi-ridiculous) places. I was completely along for that ride. Be warned, readers, you may not be.’

And that pretty much sums it up.

This is a book for people who can stomach nasty characters, awful parents, teenagers doing terrible things to each other, and lots of Kurt Cobain references. It’s also a book for anyone who likes writing that zings off the page, and stories that go to bold, unexpected places (when I explained some of the plots points to a colleague, she was appalled). But it’s also a funny, self-aware book, with a sense of humour about itself, and I simply enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Ed note: This novel will be released on Tuesday 10 May.

Jemima Bucknell is watching Outlander: Season 1

The second season of Outlander is airing and once again there are many articles discussing the show’s favourable approach to gender politics and on-screen lovemaking. The series follows London-born WWII infantry nurse Claire who is accidentally transported back in time to 1743 Scotland, where she – as an Englishwoman or sassenach – is abducted by the McKenzie clan and forced to work as their resident healer and surgeon. Given the aforementioned articles, I was persuaded to start watching the first season last weekend.

Based on the novels by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander is unselfconsciously sexy (a welcome departure from the contemporary copulating on TV shows like Girls, Love and Game of Thrones) and walks a wonderfully blurred line between progressive feminism and ridiculous Highland fan fiction. If you’re not quite into GoT but are searching for a costume drama serial of flesh and violence from an historical angle, this may be just the show for you.

And of course – possibly most importantly – there is the impressive chest of sorely handsome Sam Heughan, and matched with this chest, a head of flame-red hair and a genuine Scottish brogue well worth suspending any disbelief – and viewing of other programs – for.