Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Ellen Cregan is reading Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

When the 2017 Booker longlist came out, I had the silly idea that I’d read the whole thing. I’m beginning to doubt that I’ll make it the whole way through, but I’m glad I had the idea because it’s led me to Kamila Shamsie’s stunning novel Home Fire. At the moment, I am a huge fan of authors with South Asian heritage. They have such a fire in their bellies, perhaps due in part to the way their lives are at the moment.

Home Fire tells the story of a British Muslim family torn apart by radicalisation and the cruelty of the world around them. It is, at its core, a story of familial love. This book gives great insight into a world where everything you touch is politicised against your will. I have the feeling I will miss this novel a great deal when I finish reading it.

Lian Hingee is reading Confessions of a High School Disaster (Chloe Snow’s Diary Book 1) by Emma Chastain

After listening to my workmates rave non-stop for days about Emma Chastain’s debut novel I couldn’t resist grabbing a copy for myself. Confessions of a High School Disaster is the first in a new young adult series about Chloe Snow who is 15-years-old, with an anally-retentive best friend, an absent mother, a bewildered Dad, and a shortlist of First Kiss candidates. Chloe herself is the contemporary successor to Adrian Mole, and her diary toes the line perfectly between acerbic and sweet, naive and sophisticated.

I suffer badly from the kind of second-hand embarrassment that makes reading a lot of YA humour books uncomfortable, but I’m about a third of the way through Confessions , and I’m delighted to discover that it’s managed to be hilariously funny without descending into toe-curlingly awkward slapstick. If you’re looking for a fun, witty, smart YA read give this one a whirl.

Judi Mitchell is reading Music and Freedom by Zoë Morrison

We’ve just announced our 2017 shortlist for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and coincidentally, after countless distractions, last year’s winner Music and Freedom has finally been liberated from my bedside ‘to read’ pile. Even though I’m only a third of the way through I can see why it was chosen and would never have guessed it was Morrison’s debut. The engaging and accomplished writing has quickly drawn me in and her skilful characterisation has left me with a feeling I’ve met them somewhere before. Wherever this beautiful narrative takes me next I sense my emotions will not be spared.

Nina Kenwood is listening to Kesha and Taylor Swift

This week has been all about pop music for me. Specifically, pop music by women.

I’ve been loving Kesha’s new album Rainbow. It’s her first album since 2012, and her first since her long, still ongoing legal battle with record producer Dr. Luke, who she has accused of sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally abusing her. (Dr Luke will be profiting from this album but hasn’t been directly involved with its production.) The album’s best song – the one I’ve been listening to on repeat – is ‘Praying’, which is undoubtedly about Dr Luke. It’s an amazing ballad that showcases Kesha’s voice at its strongest. It demonstrates her resilience and her capacity for forgiveness and empathy, but also it has a blisteringly savage undercurrent. I think it’s an extraordinary, complex song that has been borne out of years of pain.

I’ve also been enjoying Taylor Swift’s new song ‘Look What You Made Me Do’, haters be damned. I am here for her feuds, for her unending capacity to layer her music videos with hidden meaning and call-backs, for her revenge persona, for all her Taylor personas in fact, even for her ridiculous voicemail monologue within the song. Taylor is an extreme narcissist, to be sure, but so is every major superstar. She’s a flawed and complicated young woman, and as a fellow Slytherin, I find her music and the accompanying drama delightfully entertaining. I love the new song, I love the video clip and can’t wait for the full album.

Finally, one last recommendation, I also love P!nk’s new song ‘What About Us’.