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.

Marie Matteson is reading Trieste And The Meaning Of Nowhere by Jan Morris

At the moment I am wholly enthralled in Jan Morris’s evocation of Trieste over the centuries, fading in and out of the spotlight as Europe ebbs and flows. When you need to be in Trieste – or simply, anywhere but here – Trieste And The Meaning Of Nowhere is the book that takes you there.

It is also that time of the year when I indulge in an annual rewatch of the complete series of The West Wing. Each year when life gets busy and stressful, I return to old favourites. In the last few years of political upheaval and ridiculous but also damaging and evil populists, I’ve found comfort in The West Wing. It represents a vision of accountable government and it’s the perfect fantasy fare.

Lian Hingee is reading Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

In all the hubbub of the lead-up to Christmas, I somehow missed the news that the seventh book in Ben Aaronovitch’s wonderful Rivers of London series had arrived. Lies Sleeping sees DC Peter Grant finally closing in on Martin Chorley, AKA The Faceless Man, a murderous wizard now on the run with Peter’s friend and ex-partner, Lesley May. The Folly (Metropolitan Police’s very hush-hush supernatural department) is undergoing a bit of a renaissance, with the recent addition of DC Sahra Guleed and Peter’s sort-of-official-but-not-really apprentice Abigail Kamara. Still, even with new recruits they’ve got their hands full trying to stop Chorley before he can bring his grand plan to fruition.

I describe this series to newcomers as a terrifically readable amalgamation of The Bill meets The X-Files as written by Terry Pratchett: they’re witty, smart, diverse mysteries set in contemporary London, but shot through with all of the history and mythology that you’d expect from a magical realism series set in a two-thousand year old city. I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Paul Goodman is reading V for Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd

Aside from demonstrating natural brilliance for everything he produces, Alan Moore also tends to write about those things that are always relevant. V for Vendetta is no exception. Inspired by the encroaching populism in Thatcher’s Britain, Evey is rescued from certain death at the hands of police by V, a mysterious but charming figure hell-bent on dismantling the authoritarian party ruling the United Kingdom following a devastating nuclear war. Moore’s characters demonstrate what so few do in fiction – that they are more than themselves but rather, they are a product of their times and the thousands of years of knowledge and art that came before them. The story is as enigmatic and beguiling as V himself, and a real joy to figure out. I really loved this one. I’m yet to dislike anything by Moore. And I’m from the same town. It’s wins all the way.

Ellen Cregan is reading The Wych Elm by Tana French

I’ve been reading The Wych Elm, my first-ever Tana French book. Toby is a well-off young man from a good family, who has suffered a brain injury after being beaten up by home invaders. He decides to move back to his family home, in part to convalesce, and also to care for his dying uncle Hugo. When police discover a full skeleton hidden in a tree trunk in Hugo’s backyard, dark secrets about Toby’s past are dredged up – secrets he’s perhaps even hidden from himself… This satisfying crime thriller is many-layered, with well-developed characters and a plot that is full of twists and turns.