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 or the music we’re loving.

Bronte is giving up on reading House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

This year I made a resolution to read every book on my shelves that I have not yet given a chance – or at least attempt every book. My list notably included Mark Z. Danielewski’s cult classic House of Leaves, a massive experimental tome I’d bought four years earlier about a blind old man, a young tattoo artist and a mad woman haunting an Ohio institute. I’d decided that given this book’s superior ‘difficulty’ rating, it was best to get it out of the way early and now, after struggling with it for most of January, I’ve finally decided to give up on it for what will likely be another four years.

It’s disappointing because I really wanted to like this book. It’s considered a masterpiece by a stack of people – a spectacularly frightening horror story that’s actually a love story, a very funny satire of academic criticism, and look, just basically a superbly inventive creation of the highest order – so my own apathy left me with some despair. I always have huge doubts in my opinion when I find myself disagreeing with the majority – and even now remembering all those terrific reviews I’m tempted to pick the thing up again … but no! I’ll resist!

Ultimately, I found the book pretentious, kind of boring and – of most disappointment to me – fake. And now I have voiced this thought, raising all kinds of doubts, I’m off to read some single-star-rated Amazon reviews so I can feel better about life.

Judi is watching The Fall

I’d heard really great things about The Fall, so when it was released on DVD I couldn’t wait to see it – but then Christmas got in the way! I finally found a chance to watch it recently and consumed the entire show over two nights (I like doing this so I’m completely emotionally invested in the plot). I absolutely loved it, which, considering this is about a serial killer, might seem a bit weird…

Paul Spector (played brilliantly by Jamie Dornan) is a very handsome and caring family man and while he’s revealed as the killer from the outset I couldn’t help feeling attracted to him. The implications of this are very unsettling and they indicate how well the two sides of Spector are portrayed by Dornan. The other ‘hunter’ is Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson – also excellent) who is asked to join the Belfast police force from London to help move the investigation along. With the wonderful backdrop of a beautiful Belfast and some very intriguing sub-plots, the two strands of this psychological thriller play out over five episodes and are frequently very creepy. All I’ll say is, I had to watch the special features to see interviews with the actors so that I could reassure myself the characters were indeed fictional and return myself to some kind of normality. (Despite my efforts, I still had a strange dream that very night.) I believe a second season is being filmed at the moment. Bring it on!

Nina is reading We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

I’m reading an advance copy of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (out in March). Alternatively funny and heartbreaking, it tells the story of a young woman called Rose and her not-so-ordinary upbringing.

The less you know about the novel before reading, the better, so I won’t say much more. There’s a crucial piece of information about Rose’s family that you don’t find out until page 77 (although some of the overseas blurbs, reviews and book cover designs do reveal it straight away). It’s not a make-or-break spoiler, by any means – but I suspect the novel might be more fun if you get to figure things out on your own.

Fowler’s writing style is strong and distinctive, and I’ve enjoyed the novel immensely so far. It was released in the US last year and made it onto many best of the year lists, including those from The New York Times Book Review, Slate and Library Journal, as well as attracting high praise from authors such as Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Kingsolver and Ruth Ozeki. All of these accolades are much deserved, and I recommend immediately adding this novel onto your ‘Books I Want To Read in 2014’ list (everyone has one of those, right?). I’ll finish reading it this weekend, but I suspect I’ll keep thinking about it for much longer.