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.

Mike Shuttleworth is reading The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

Right now I’m at home resting my right foot following surgery to remove a raw nerve. So it’s the perfect time to read the true story of a couple’s 1000-kilometre walk along England’s southwest coast. Sore feet are very the least of Raynor and Moth’s troubles. Terrible investment decisions meant the couple lost the family home and business, and are now effectively homeless. Oh, and Moth has just been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease. No home, bad health and on benefits. Rather than wait unknown months for public housing, they take to the road, wild camping on a wild coast, while they try to work out what to do. The circumstances are compelling but what really fires The Salt Path is Raynor’s voice: intimate, raw and fiercely determined. The Salt Path is a rich portrait of place; it’s also a real time report on inequality and is crammed with human drama.

Joanna Di Mattia is reading The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Moving deftly between 1985 and 2015, Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers is heartbreakingly good, bursting with emotional insights into love, grief and remembrance. I love this book so much. I can’t wait to read it again.

Ele Jenkins is reading The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

Leckie’s first fantasy book! A suspenseful story of magic, language and truth that will appeal to anyone who wished the weirder, ancient parts of American Gods had lasted longer…