Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, and the music we’re loving.

Emily is reading The Gold Inky Awards 2013 Longlist

Now that the INKY longlists are out (the teen lit awards as voted by teen judges, organised by insideadog.com.au) I’m making my way through the Australian list. I’ve just finished Cry Blue Murder, a psychological thriller by Kim Kane and Marion Roberts.

It’s a slim, fast-paced read that will be devoured by teens even if they’re not always keen readers, because the narrative takes the form of snappy emails between two main characters as well as transcripts of police interviews. The themes - the abduction of young girls, how we react to that crime as a society, and the dangers of the internet - make for uneasy reading but the telling is astute. Don’t expect a sugar-coated ending, but plenty to think about in terms of what we perceive to be dangerous as compared to where danger may lurk in reality. I read it in two sittings - in fact I was so keen I finished it off while walking through a park one morning. I advise against this if you’re easily spooked!

The Young Adult book I’m reading right now isn’t out for a few weeks but the reason I was so keen to get my hands on an advance copy is because it has loose ties with Sherlock Holmes: recently my lovely colleagues in the DVD department encouraged me to watch Sherlock, the modern version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and now I’m obsessed with all things Sherlock Holmes-related…or is that Benedict Cumberbatch-related?

(Watch Cumberbatch in the stunning Parade’s End as well if you like programmes like Downton Abbey. It makes Downton look as cheap as Neighbours.)

Bronte is reading Helen Garner

A while back I read Anna Krien’s Night Games and it completely blew me away. A lot of people have linked the book with Helen Garner’s infamous The First Stone and last week I picked up The First Stone for the first time. I was surprised how challenging I found it. While I disagreed with many points Helen raised - and was sometimes angered by them - I also loved her candour here. Her account is so personal and open that even as I felt my hackles rise, I also wanted to understand where she was coming from. I truly felt for Helen when she came up against a wall of silence but as a co-worker said, it is entirely understandable why those women remained silent. I doubt I would’ve wanted to speak with her. So - as with Night Games there are no easy answers.

Further compounding my conflicting feelings, I also watched Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt a few nights ago. Set in a Danish village, Mads Mikkelsen stars as a man who is wrongly accused of sexually assaulting a child. It’s heart-wrenching stuff, harrowing and emotionally-exhausting.

As you watch the hysteria blossom in the small community you can’t help but feel intimately for all the players as they are swept up in the motions. The last time I cried so much during a film was when I saw Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark and it’s interesting to note that it was these two directors who co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking.

(As an aside, I’ve heard terrific things about von Trier’s most recent film Melancholia.)

This weekend I’m planning to start re-reading Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy (Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood) in anticipation of the release of MaddAddam this September - the third and final book.

This video pretty much sums up how happy this upcoming release makes me.

Nina is reading Nora Ephron

Last week I mentioned I had started reading an advance copy of Rainbow Rowell’s new YA novel Fangirl (out later this year). I’m pleased to say I loved, loved, loved this book from start to finish – it’s funny, heartwarming, smart and brings each character to a very satisfying conclusion without fundamentally changing who they are. It also has one of the more delightful first kiss scenes I’ve read in YA (although can anything compete with Taylor and Jonah from On the Jellicoe Road? No, no it can not.)

After Fangirl, I read Nora Ephron’s I Feel Bad About My Neck. I’m working my way through all of Ephron’s books (I started with Heartburn and I Remember Nothing last year). There’s probably nothing I can say about Nora Ephron that hasn’t already been said but I’ll add a few more words of praise. I could read Nora all day. Reading Nora is like listening to your smartest, most interesting, most intimate friend tell you important truths about life. You might not always agree with her but you can’t wait to hear what she has to say. In I Feel Bad About My Neck, Nora writes a chapter on handbags and I was as breathlessly hooked as if she were writing a crime thriller. My favourite Nora pieces are when she writes about food – she writes about food like no one else. And New York. And men. And clothes. And hair. And politics. And friendships. (I could go on all day). The only complaint I have about Nora’s books are that they are so short. (Next up on my Nora Ephron reading list is Crazy Salad and Scribble Scribble).

This morning, I started reading Unfinished Business: Sex, Freedom and Misogyny, the new Quarterly Essay by Anna Goldsworthy. As a big fan of Anna Goldsworthy, I can’t wait to read the essay. Also – Happy 50th (issue), Quarterly Essay! Here’s to 50 more.

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