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.

Paul Barr is listening to Lanterns by Ryan Ayers

Former classical guitarist Ryan Ayers has picked up a steel string guitar to great effect on Lanterns. Ayers has a gift for melody and unlike a lot of the current crop of acoustic players, his music has echoes of the Windham Hill sound rather than of the American primitive John Fahey style. The comparison that comes closest to mind is Alex de Grassi, excluding some slide work towards the end. The compositions in this release are all memorable and really take hold after a few listens.

Ellen Cregan is reading Milkman by Anna Burns

I always try to read the Man Booker Prize shortlist when it comes out. I don’t think I’ll make it through all of them this year but I am still going to give it a red hot go. I’ve just started on my first pick: Milkman by Anna Burns. I’m only at the beginning of the book but I am loving it so far. Burns’ prose style is perfect for my tastes: a little bit experimental, a little bit stream of consciousness, and not afraid of being weird. There’s also something about the writing that reminds me of Ali Smith, a writer I am a die-hard fan of. I think I’m going to enjoy Milkman very much.

Chris Gordon is recommending three new cookbooks

When I’m feeling tired and emotionally strung-out, I like to gather my thoughts by reading cookbooks – they are my optimistic beasts. I find the images of kitchens, meals and families are comforting and hopeful. If you feel similarly to me then there are some tremendous options available at the moment.

Gill Meller’s excellent Time: A Year and a Day in the Kitchen is perfect for days of exhaustion. Meller’s musings on time open the book and then weave throughout the 120 seasonal recipes that follow, making his collection feel both personal and personable. The images of quaint, eccentric or plentiful kitchens are completely delightful. Time makes me want to collect charming jars of produce and match them with chipped plates piled with with the tastes of absolute peasant food. This is Meller’s second collection of recipes and certainly one to cherish.

Also sitting on my cookbook pile of reassurance is Peter Kuruvita’s Lands of the Curry Leaf. Here, Kuruvita has taken everything he’s learned about dishes from across the world, and crafted a fashionable expose of how we eat – and why. The emphasis here is on flavour and colour, packed with such wonderful aroma as to stop people on the street. Looking at this cookbook makes me think of crushing leaves and spices, and then presenting everything in bowls of brass and green plates. Lands of the Curry Leaf will take you to places of heat and communal eating – it seems a good destination.

Adam Liaw’s latest cookbook is in the same vein. Destination Flavour has me longing for warmer climates and fresh innovative dishes to pair with a crisp beer. Liaw takes us to China, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore, as well as for a fair romp around Australia. I love that his recipes are so bloody easy to make and the photos are completely gorgeous. This cookbook is already dog-eared and marked, ready for the kitchen. Liaw makes me realise there are so many things I still want to eat and so many places I must visit before too long. Just thinking about the possibilities lifts my mood considerably.

Paul Goodman is watching two Netflix originals

This week I have a double whammy in the form of two new Netflix originals: the fifth season of Bojack Horseman and new frontrunner Maniac, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.

Bojack Horseman has transformed from a cringe comedy about a washed up and obscenely arrogant/insecure sitcom actor (who is a horse) into something that is sweet, sharp and existentially pretty painful. It’s been getting better with every season and four is going to be hard to top, being the best thing on TV last year, but the new season shows real promise so far. Amazing voice work as ever from Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie and Aaron Paul, with Rami Malek making an appearance in this season as a nervy but stubborn director.

Maniac, a remake of a Norwegian series of the same name, is so far blending Michel Gondry surrealism with moments of slapstick that take the enjoyment of watching something so gloriously weird and tips you over into hysterics. In a futuristic present, Jonah Hill and Emma Stone enrol in a pharmaceutical trial in the hope that their lives will change for the better. Results vary dramatically. I’m only a few episodes in but it’s playful and revels in its more bonkers moments, as well as speaking to that very familiar question in life: Is this all there is? For these two and ten other volunteers, no, most certainly not.

Bronte Coates is reading The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan (available February 2019)

I read Dervla McTiernan’s excellent debut crime novel, The Rúin, earlier this year, and absolutely loved it. So I was incredibly excited to receive an early copy of McTiernan’s follow-up on my desk last week. Similarly set in Galway, Ireland and featuring DS Cormac Reilly, The Scholar is another elegantly crafted crime procedural that you won’t want to put down. Opening with a gruesome (and seemingly intentional) hit and run at a university, this is a meaty thriller packed with high drama and Irish politic. Sadly, it isn’t due for release until February of next year. But happily, The Rúin is available now and comes highly recommended.