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.

Emily Harms is reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

I really do believe that the world would be a better place if everyone read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me.

Written in the form of a letter to his adolescent son, Coates attempts to answer the big questions concerning exploitation of the black body through slavery and segregation and why African Americans are still disproportionately threatened, incarcerated and killed in the streets. The shameful parallels between how America treat their black population and how Australia has treated our own indigenous population throughout history, right through to the overt racism recently directed towards Adam Goodes on the footy field. should act as an enormous wake-up call for us all.

Coates is a national correspondent for the Atlantic and author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. I now need to read every word Coates has had published. His impassioned journalistic writing style makes for an unputdownable reading experience that goes straight for the jugular. I urge you all to read this.

Alison Huber is reading Fever of Animals by Miles Allinson

I don’t usually read in the morning and almost never on public transport, so a book really has to have me in its grips to get me reading it on the tram at 8am. Stephanie Bishop’s The Other Side of the World did it to me last month and now it’s Fever of Animals, Miles Allinson’s forthcoming book, that has me ignoring my sleepy travel sickness.

This work won the Victorian Premier’s Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2014, and comes out through Scribe next month. I should say that Miles is a Readings staff member, but I don’t know him at all beyond talking to him on the phone to ask him to transfer a book for a customer, so these words should be taken at face value: Fever of Animals is an incredibly impressive piece of writing! I feel like ringing Miles especially to tell him exactly how good it is. It’s beautifully written, and its insights into love, grief, painting, travel, memory, imagination, ‘the real’, fiction and history have left me rather in awe.

Following A.S. Patric’s also truly excellent Black Rock White City, this is the second book from a St Kilda staff member this year to have me getting evangelical, and not a little curious as to whether there’s something in the water down there… Amazing.

Robbie Egan is reading Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioural Economics by Richard H. Thaler

Behavioural economics has been popularised by the Freakonomics guys, but the groundwork was laid by the likes of Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow) and Robert Shiller (Irrational Exuberance). A contemporary of theirs, Richard Thaler tells the chronological tale of the development of behavioural economics in Misbehaving. At the heart of his book is decision making – not economic models of decision making but the forces (economic, social etc) that influence why we do things that are often economically against our own interests. Thaler steers away from the statistics and modelling to present a compelling story of an academic field moving from the margins to the centre. These days we discount economic models, statistics and theories as unrealistic and ‘academic’, though in the recent past this was not so.

Misbehaving is breezily anecdotal and has me wishing I could go and study with Mr Thaler. At the least I’d love to get stuck next to him on a plane – the time would fly, and I’d undoubtedly disembark smarter than I was when I boarded.

Nina Kenwood is reading The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

I was so, so excited to get my hands on an advance copy of the fourth and final book in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels. I’m trying not to read it too quickly, because I don’t want this book series to end, but it’s hard to stop myself from racing through the pages. From what I’ve read so far, it might be my favourite of all of Ferrante’s books. Though really, all of the books are one long story so it seems a little silly to compare them… But I love ranking things so it’s a conundrum.

The Story of the Lost Child will be released on Tuesday 1 September. If you are a Ferrante fan, or thinking about becoming one, I encourage you to come along to our #Ferrantefever event on Thursday 17 September and celebrate her work with us.

Alexandra Mathew is watching A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

One of the perks of working at Readings is the occasional stellar book, music, or film recommendation by a customer. Usually, it’s the other way around, so such an occurrence is always welcome. Recently, a customer suggested I should watch A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, an Iranian-American film directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. I have been stealing grabs over the last couple of days when my work and study schedule allows, and I can say this is a top recommendation. I love the eccentricity of it all: a lonely, skateboarding vampire woman roams the moonlit streets of the fictional ‘Bad City’. She encounters a range of characters along the way, including a menacing tattooed pimp – well played by Dominic Rains – who meets a very sticky end. Although it’s black and white, the fantastic soundtrack adds real depth and colour. I can’t wait to see how this one unfolds.

Chris Gordon is reading The Salty River by Jan Bauer

I’m a huge fan of graphic novels. I first fell in love with them when I realised my daughter had dyslexia and reading graphic novels for her was easier than reading a traditional novel. It has been a delight to explore all the different titles available. This week I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of a wonderful graphic novel that is being brought to Australia by 12 Panel Press – a brand new publishing house that celebrates all things written and drawn. The Salty River is an exploration of running away, finding reason and exploring the centre of the universe – and a real treat of a book.

While the german edition is pictured here, the English edition will be available soon thanks to 12 Panel Press. Find out more here.

Stella Charls is seeing so many great films at the Melbourne International Film Festival

I’ve been helping out as an usher at MIFF so have been lucky to see lots of great films and talks. I particularly enjoyed the conversation between David Gulipil and Margaret Pomeranz as part of the Talking Pictures program. MIFF is honouring Gulpilil this year with an retrospective of his work, culminating in his latest project, Molly Reynold’s documentary Another Country. A powerful finale for the critically acclaimed Country suite, Another Country explores the Indigenous way of life in Gulpilil’s own community, Ramingining, and should be compulsory viewing for all Australians.

I haven’t seen too many of Gulpilil’s film’s before but was really moved by his latest feature film with Rolf De Heer, Charlie’s Country. I was also an usher for a screening of De Heer’s 2006 parable, Ten Canoes and while I only managed to catch the first 15 minutes of the feature, I was enchanted by the stunning landscape and, most strikingly, cheeky sense of humour that laced Gulpilil’s narration. I’m looking forward to picking up a copy of the film on DVD after the festival, so that I can finish watching.