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.

Bel Monypenny is reading Alice Munro for the first time

I’m finally delving into the work of Alice Munro, the Canadian Nobel laureate and master of the short story. I’m starting with Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage and it’s certainly been worth the wait. The meaty stories in this collection have all left me with the aftertaste of a novel – I’ve found myself putting the book down between each one to sit with them a while longer. You want to mull over these intimate tales that focus on the quiet complexity of women’s lives, let the tender subtleties of character settle around you before you move on, but then you miss that canny omniscient narrator who gives her characters descriptions like: ‘Her teeth were crowded to the front of her mouth like they were ready for an argument’ – and you have to dive back in.

I think anyone who enjoyed pathos and nuanced observations of Elizabeth Strout will love Munro. And there’s nothing quite like the greedy glee of falling in love with an author who has an extensive and readily available backlist. Yum!

Mike Shuttleworth is listening to Krautrock

It’s a truism that in your fifties, music doesn’t affect you the way it does in your late teens or twenties. Except that a few months ago, late one afternoon, my colleague put on a record that really turned my head around. And as the disc played I realised that a lot of the artists I liked had heard it – maybe even heard it a lot. It was impossible not to recognise those fat, snaking bass lines and the funky collision of guitars, sequencers, and crisp, driving drums. You could hear the blueprint for late ‘70s Bowie, Eno, Joy Division, Talking Heads, Magazine, Gang of Four, LCD Sound System… Needless to say I had just had my first encounter with Krautrock, and my listening life has never been the same since.

The German band Neu! recorded their extraordinary first album in 1971 and until earlier this year I had never heard a single note. Since then, thanks to our deep Krautrock section, I’ve been happily exploring bands including Harmonia, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Can and more. Can even had a track called Hunters and Collectors – how did I not make that connection?

So I expect that I will go on exploring Krautrock’s ever-expanding universe and making up for lost time for a while yet.

Jo Case is recommending The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano

Declaration: I’m not at all interested in ‘wellness’ or ‘lifestyle’, apart from trying to move my body occasionally and not eat too many dinners of Vegemite toast per week. I only heard about ‘cancer survivor’ Belle Gibson and The Whole Pantry, her internationally successful app and cookbook, after her cancer was revealed in front-page news as made-up – along with much of her personal story, including the money she’d raised ‘for charity’.

So, what interests me about her story of Instafame and fortune is not what she did, but how and why she shot to success and went so long without her not-terribly-sophisticated inventions being uncovered. We believed in her because we wanted her to exist. The Woman Who Fooled the World, by the journalism team who did crack her surface to reveal the scam it was, is a fascinating read about all of this, and a wonderfully scathing look at wellness and social media celebrity. Highly recommended!

Chris Gordon is trying out recipes from The Modern Cook’s Year by Anna Jones

Because I have a friend that tells me over and over again how brilliant Anna Jones is for vegetarian cooking, I’ve decided to dip into her latest cookbook, The Modern Cook’s Year.

So far, I’m enjoying the simple instructions, the beautiful photos and the clean layout. While I would prefer there to be more stories, more little glimpses into Anna’s own life, The Modern Cook’s Year is ideal as a reference book. Got leftover beetroot? Create a tart. Discovered an abundance of kale? Make a lasagne. Have fiends dropping by? Whip up a huge one-pot wonder that will blow their minds.

In this day and age, it’s essential to be able to serve food without meat, and The Modern Cook’s Year is a tremendously good vegetarian cookbook. I also guarantee the recipes make you feel virtuous and given that the festive season is just around the corner, I’d say that was a bonus.