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.

Kim Gruschow is reading two terrific middle fiction books

This past week I read Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani, a really sweet and touching graphic novel about family and choices. There’s lots of beautiful colour and magic as Pri, an artistic Indain-American teen, discovers the homeland her mother fled.

I also just finished The Guggenheim Mystery, which is Robin Stevens’s follow-up to Siobahn Dowd’s The London Eye Mystery. This is great contemporary mystery for kids that kicks off when a painting is stolen from the Guggenheim museum. Stevens has successfully captured Ted’s unique voice and crime-solving brain as created by Dowd.

Chris Somerville is reading The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day is one of those books you hear a lot about with a kind of reverence that I usually find off-putting, and to be honest the setup – an old as hell butler drives around and reminisces about his life of servitude – didn’t really sound like my cup of tea. Partway through though, something clicks, and suddenly the most mundane tasks of a butler become thrilling. Filled with sadness and oddly pertinent to current world events, Remains of the Day is an absorbing read, plus he won the Nobel prize so get on it.

Lian Hingee is reading The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson

I’m moving house in a couple of weeks (I know, terrible timing) and in preparation I’ve been reading The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning.

Margareta Magnusson, who puts her age somewhere between 80-100, has written this guide book for anyone wanting to do a big de-clutter. She’s quick to explain that döstädning (as it’s known in Sweden) doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with age or death… it’s really just about doing a really thorough cleanout – sort of like Marie Kondo, but way less intimidating and much more respectful of your personal library. In short, succinct chapters Magnusson outlines how to separate what you should keep and what you shouldn’t, the emotionally charged aspects of de-cluttering, and how to organise what remains.

Unexpectedly, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning isn’t just full of practical advice, but it’s also hilariously funny. In one chapter titled, ‘Things that you maybe did not want in the first place, but that you did not have the heart to throw away’, Magnusson introduces readers to the concept of the fulskåp (a cabinet for the ugly). In another chapter, she advises you to save your favourite dildo – but throw away the other 15. I love her, and I love this book.