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.

Mark Rubbo is reading Demi-Gods by Eliza Robertson

I just read Demi-Gods by Eliza Robertson. Eliza, a Canadian writer, won last year’s ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Pheidippides’, and this is her first novel. It’s a highly charged coming-of-age story set across British Columbia and California in which a young woman develops an unhealthy obsession with her stepbrother. Demi-Gods is a very accomplished debut and reminded of a slightly edgy Alice Munro.

Bronte Coates is reading You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld (available May)

One of the perks of working in a bookshop is getting your hands on not-yet-released books from authors you adore. This was exactly the case for me when our head book buyer passed me an early copy of You Think It, I’ll Say It, the first story collection from Curtis Sittenfeld.

Reading this book has been an absolute pleasure. Sittenfeld is a sharply funny writer with uncanny skill for pinpointing all the tiny, excruciating moments that make up human life. If you’ve not read her earlier novels then I recommend you do so – immediately. My personal favourite is Eligible, Sittenfeld’s hilarious update of Pride and Prejudice, but both Prep (a boarding school story) and American Wife (a fictional memoir that draws inspiration from the life of Laura Bush) are adored by readers.

Ellen Cregan is browsing her cookbook shelves

Over summer, I become very reliant on salads. They are easy and fast to prepare, and there are so many variations to make. Even so, by the time the hot weather starts to wind up, I’m getting pretty excited thinking about all the cold-weather appropriate meals I’ll be making.

One of my all-time favourite cookbooks for stews, pastas, bakes and the like is Veganomicon, the classic vegan cookbook from the legendary cooks Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The best thing about this cookbook is that it has a huge range of savoury and sweet recipes, as we all know that a good cake recipe goes a long way across the winter months.

I’ve also been studying The Homemade Vegan Pantry by Miyoko Schinner. This book includes recipes for every vegan staple you could imagine – coconut yogurt, several varieties of plant-based milks, granola, bread, even tofu. But the absolute best thing I’ve made out of this book is the pancake mix. You just have to whizz up a few dry ingredients in your food processor, then store it in a jar and it’s ready for the next rainy Saturday morning that requires a quick and easy cooked breakfast.

Dani Solomon is watching Death in Paradise

Death in Paradise is a British/French murder mystery set on the fictional island of Saint Marie, and as far as murder mysteries go, it’s about as non-violent and wholesome as you can get with the focus being more on the mystery than the murder. (There are an inordinate amount of locked-room murders on Saint Marie.)

I’m up to the season where the lead Detective has just been replaced by Ardal O’Hanlon and I’m loving him, he’s very personable and approaches the mysteries in a different (much less manic!) way which keeps the show fresh. The best thing about this show though is in the title – Death in Paradise really is set in paradise. There’s something truly pleasurable about rugging up under a blanket on the couch in winter watching a show set in the beautiful sunny Caribbean.