The Ides of March (George Clooney 1011)

Another movie about a US presidential election campaign and the accompanying compromise and corruption. A frisson early on when Paul Giametti and Philip Seymour Hoffman face off, with George Clooney and Ryan Gosling in the crossfire, but it never quite lived up to that moment. (There were some women in it too.) I love George Clooney but I'm beginning to think he's a bit boring as a director.

Asia Literary Review 21, [Northern] Autumn 2011

This issue has a food theme, ranging from gourmet-centric history to an exploration of the coming food crisis.

TV: The Night Watch (Richard Laxton 2011)

Not Terry Pratchett, but sex and the Blitz, and it's hard to tell which creates more misery, or for that matter which is more photogenic. From a novel by Sarah Waters. The ABC seem to be having a Sunday night festival of Gay and Lesbian Cinema in the lead up to the ALP's vote on Gay Marriage.

The Inspector of Tides (Michael Dransfield 1973)

Same story as Streets of the Long Voyage.

The Tall Man (Tony Krawitz 2011)

An excellent illustration of Chloe Hooper's book about a death on Palm Island and the responses of the legal system. 'There are two minorities involved here, the Aboriginal people and the police.' It's truly chilling, perhaps especially for Queenslanders, to see the police force present themselves as victims and close ranks at the prospect of one of them being charged with criminal behaviour and having a day in court.

Moneyball (Bennett Miller 1911)

The Brad Pitt character asks towards the end, 'How can you not be romantic about baseball?' Well, he hadn't seen this film, which is all about greed, competition and the commodification of human beings. Maybe if you were into baseball, or any 'elite' sport, it would seem romantic, but I don't know. It felt to me like an interesting documentary shoehorned into a feature-film mould.

STC: Bloodland (Wayne Blair and others 2011)

Stunningly beautiful theatre. Among other splendours, David Page is a fabulous dog.

Streets of the Long Voyage (Michael Dransfield 1970)

I didn't understand the fuss about Michael Dransfield back when he was alive. A friend who was culling her books gave me this, and I'm re-reading it.

Anatomy of an Epidemic (Robert Whitaker 2010)

Subtitle: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America.

Advance: Forbrydelsen /The Killing 2 (Søren Sveistrup et al 2009)

Having got our hands on this we decided to cancel all appointments and watch the first episode tonight. So far I'm not convinced it's as engaging as the first series, but it's enough to have me hooked.

Old TV: Green Wing Season 1 (Victoria Pile 2004

Very very strange – and funny –  take on all those hospital series. The patients hardly get a look-in.

By Nightfall (Michael Cunningham 2010)

My last title from the most recent Book Club swap meeting. An author I'm not naturally drawn to, but you never know ...

Deep Suburbia (Michael Mohammed Ahmad 2011)

This is a Sydney Theatre Company production based on Deep Suburbia, an anthology of young people's writing produced by the Bankstown Youth Development Service – more than a reading, less than a play, and terrific.