Eimear McBride, author

Everyone else got there a long time ago but I’ve only recently read Adrian Tchaikovsky’s sci-fi masterpiece Children of Time. Cautionary, richly imaginative and deeply, unexpectedly humane, it was both utterly unputdownable and a welcome relief from the current resignation to dystopia.

I’ve also been taking delight in Edward Carey’s glorious novel Edith Holler. Set in a Norwich that is at once fictional, historical and fantastical, he transports the reader into the world of brilliant 12-year-old Edith who is cursed to never leave her family’s tumbledown theatre … until fate decides otherwise. Filled with the author’s witty, curious observations and alive with his own illustrations, it’s a novel like no other.

I’ve been a Simon Russell Beale fan ever since, as a teenager, I first saw him in The Duchess of Malfi back in the 90s. So imagine my excitement when his memoir, A Piece of Work, appeared in the bookshops. It threads around every Shakespearean role he’s performed – from Desdemona at school to his famous Richard III, his unforgettable Hamlet and beyond. It’s a fascinating, hands-on view.

• The City Changes Its Face by Eimear McBride is published by Faber (£20). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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Keith, Guardian reader

I am always drawn to books that offer in-depth character studies. The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey left me eager to learn more about each character, with each section of the book drawing me further into their world.

Meanwhile Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan was a slow burn. I felt as if I was being guided in one direction, only to be sent off on a detour, as O’Hagan unveiled the different layers of his central character’s life. At times, I felt like I was being drawn into an unsettling dystopian world.

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Diana Evans, author

For many months I’ve been reading novels for the Women’s prize for fiction, which is celebrating its 30th year, and for which I’m on the judging panel. In between those books I’ve been reading poetry, and two of the best British collections I’ve discovered recently are Caleb Femi’s Poor and Victoria Adukwei Bulley’s Quiet. The latter is a wholly unique, beautifully muscled contemplation on the prism of silence and black interiority which really resonated with me. I also found Femi’s collection very moving, with its acute, truthful and loving observation of the lives of black boys on the North Peckham Estate in London.

• I Want to Talk to You by Diana Evans is published by Chatto & Windus (£18.99). To support the Guardian and the Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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William, Guardian reader

I’ve just finished two great books, both of which I definitely rate five out of five. The first was The Outrun by Amy Liptrot, a beautiful and emotional memoir that tells the story of the author’s childhood on Orkney, her move to London, and her return to Orkney aged 30 as a recovering alcoholic. Returning to the Scottish island, she reconnects with the power of the land and sea, and Orkney’s history, culture and people. An immersive personal journey that reminds the reader of the healing and magical power of nature.

The second book I loved lately was The New Life by Tom Crewe, a fictional account of the lives of John Addington Symonds and Henry Havelock Ellis, who wrote the first English medical textbook about homosexuality, Sexual Inversion. As well as being a brilliant and gripping story, the history behind it is fascinating.