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, and the music we’re loving.

Jessica is reading The Infatuations by Javier Marias

At the moment for me, it’s all about Javier Marias’ The Infatuations. Having read and enjoyed A Heart So White awhile ago, I was pretty keen to tackle the Spanish novelist’s latest, and so far I’m addicted to its tense, tight, slow-burn. The Infatuations is both genre and meta-fiction, anti and yet utterly romantic.

Almost every day, María Dolz watches her ideal couple have breakfast at a local cafe. She does not know them, but is drawn to their obviously loving relationship and distant perfection. Then, she discovers that the husband has been found murdered on the street. She approaches and the widow, Luisa, and a so begins a brilliant, terrifying and deliberative contemplation on love and death.

What I love so far about this novel is that it’s on told almost entirely in soliloquy, or long snatches of formalistic dialogue. Each character muses at length, tangential and articulate, on the what ifs, what might have been or what will be. In one book, Marias manages to extrapolate the horrifying thought that perhaps crosses all our minds in a fleeting moment of supposition, and go against every writing adage in the book.

Chris is reading Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel

In light of our upcoming event on graphic novels, I’m reading graphic novel and NY wonder-hit, Are You My Mother? - poignancy and humour at its best. The Guardian called it a furiously literary memoir from the ‘lesbian Woody Allen’.

I’m also readying myself for ‘The Great Gatsby 3D Movie Experience’ by re-watching Robert Redfern and Mia Farrow in the 1974 film adaptation. Now, here is some deliciously classy viewing, and it goes perfectly with a good French red wine, one that is light and fruity.

Nina is reading The Revolution Was Televised by Alan Sepinwall

I’m currently reading an advance copy of Rainbow Rowell’s new YA novel Fangirl (out in September. Her first novel is Eleanor & Park). Fangirl tells the story of a wonderfully nerdy, fan-fiction-writing, introverted girl called Cath who is trying to survive her first year at college. It’s warm, funny, filled with sharp family dynamics and the anxieties of emerging adulthood, along with fascinating insights on obsessive fandom and what it means to be a writer. I adore it so far.

I just finished Alan Sepinwall’s The Revolution Was Televised, which I loved and recommend for any fellow TV addict. The chapter on Friday Night Lights made me squee and cry all over again as certain scenes and characters were discussed (“Everybody leaves me…what’s wrong with me?” “There’s nothing wrong you. There’s nothing wrong with you at all”), the chapter on Lost gave me an all new appreciation of how hard writing for a TV show can be, and the chapter on 24 made me feel better about loving a show I was always a little embarrassed to admit I loved.

Speaking of being a TV addict, right now I am watching the new season of Arrested Development. I’m reserving my opinion until I finish watching the entire season because of the layered way all the episodes fit together, but so far it’s a disjointed mix of funny scenes and moments that fall flat. I’m also watching The Americans, an utterly engrossing Cold War era spy drama that is one of the best new shows of the year.

Bronte is reading Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

I have a group of friends who I sometimes get together with to watch period dramas. I hesitate to call it a ‘club’ as it’s really just an excuse to eat scones and talk about etiquette. We most recently sat down to the 2006 mini-series Jane Eyre which prompted a private re-read of Jean Rhys’ amazing novel, Wide Sargasso Sea.

A a post-colonial interpretation of a nineteenth-century novel - the world Rhys creates here is wholly absorbing and the plot itself is thrilling and provocative. Jane Eyre has always been one of my favourite characters from literature and I love the way Rhys twists that perspective here, challenging my sentimental attachment to a particular story. The vibrant and fragile Antoinette is completely unlike the plain and strong-minded Jane, yet both are passionate and both inspire my sympathy.

Re-reading the novel, and mentally comparing my own reactions to the two characters, I was reminded of the ever-prevalent ‘Good Girl vs. Bad Girl Debate’, an idea I want to talk about more than ever after finishing the book.

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