Books books books! Our top picks from 2024

It’s almost the end of 2023, which means one thing: it’s time for our annual predictions episode! You sent in your suggestions – and today, FT magazine editor Matt Vella joins Lilah to talk through them. Will films get shorter? Will primal scream therapy get cool? Is cabbage in? Will there be more nuance, or less nuance?-------As this episode suggests, we love hearing from you! Stay in touch. You can email at lifeandart@ft.com or message Lilah on Instagram @lilahrap. -------Links: – Matt is on Twitter @mattvella.– The magazine piece Matt mentioned on microplastics is here: https://on.ft.com/3GKYNHO– Our colleague Emma Jacobs wants to see more 90-minute films like Rye Lane and Past Lives. Here’s the FT’s review of Rye Lane: https://on.ft.com/3NtzgGM and Past Lives: https://on.ft.com/4anSIOR– You can follow Emma on X @emmavj. Eric Platt, who wants crop tops to make a comeback, is @ericgplattHere are some roundups of the FT’s favourite cultural things from 2023:– Pop albums: https://on.ft.com/3GNur7v – TV shows: https://on.ft.com/470629p – Films: https://on.ft.com/3RINMgb – Video games: https://on.ft.com/3tiY7pQ -------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

18 Joulu 202323min

This Friday, we are bringing you a festive music extravaganza! We’re talking all things Christmas music: the classics, the duds, the Cher album, and how the genre is changing. What are the best and worst Christmas songs? Why are old songs suddenly charting? And the eternal question: how soon is too soon to pull out the playlists? Lilah is joined by pop music critic Ludo Hunter-Tilney, and Taylor Nicole Rogers, the FT’s Labour and Equality correspondent. -------We love hearing from you! Write us. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com or message Lilah on Instagram @lilahrap. -------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Look out for Ludo’s Christmas round up, out next weekend. In the meantime, here’s his roundup of the best pop albums of 2023, including Lana Del Rey and The Chemical Brothers: https://on.ft.com/3RKPtdm – Ludo is on X at @ludohunter. Taylor is at @TaylorNRogers We have compiled a Spotify Christmas playlist for you, with all of the songs we talked about! Listen to it here. -------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner. Clips courtesy of Sony Legacy, Fervent, A&M, Republic Records, Island Records, and Motown. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

15 Joulu 202321min

Today, we talk books. The FT’s books team recently published our annual books of the year special, and they join us to share their personal recommendations. They also answer listener questions: what books will get you out of ‘reader’s block’? What’s a good gift for a family member who loves history, or a friend who’s anxious about the world? What book could you pair with a candle and some socks? Lilah speaks with literary editor Fred Studemann and deputy books editor Laura Battle. -------We love hearing from you. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap.-------Recommendations and links (all FT links get you past the paywall): Some great lists from our books of the year special:– Best fiction: https://on.ft.com/4a4xjds– Best history: https://on.ft.com/4a9ErFx– Best audiobooks https://on.ft.com/3t9tVNT– Critics’ picks: https://on.ft.com/3RyWH3H– For getting past your reader’s block, Laura and Fred recommend Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell and The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. Laura also loved The Fraud by Zadie Smith– Fred’s picks for history lovers are Revolutionary Spring by Christopher Clark and King: a Life by Jonathan Eig; Laura’s is Red Memory by Tanya Branigan– For a stocking stuffer, Lilah suggests Love and Other Poems by Alex Dimitrov. Laura likes The Cabin by Natasha Preston and other books about the outdoors. Fred is going with Claire Keegan’s So Late in the Day-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11 Joulu 202318min

Historian Sir Simon Schama and FT deputy arts editor and film expert Raph Abraham join Lilah to discuss the historical epic ‘Napoleon’. Ridley Scott’s new two-and-a-half-hour-long film stars Joaquin Phoenix, and documents a lot: Napoleon’s rise and fall, some of his most famous battles, and his relationship with his wife, Josephine. But how well does it represent his character? We discuss what the film got right and wrong (historically and dramatically), why Napoleon continues to loom so large in culture, and whether historical epics still satisfy us.-------We are still collecting your cultural predictions for 2024! What’s one thing you think will happen (or want to happen) in culture next year? Write us. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com or message Lilah on Instagram @lilahrap. -------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Simon’s FT Weekend essay on Napoleon, and why so many writers and filmmakers try to depict him: https://on.ft.com/4861gbn– the FT’s official review of Napoleon by Danny Leigh: https://on.ft.com/484moPh– An essay from Janan Ganesh on why Napoleon still matters: https://on.ft.com/3uWF8Sj– Simon recommends the 2012 movie ‘Lincoln’, directed by Steven Spielberg– Raph is a fan of Pablo Larrain’s ‘Jackie,’ from 2016, and the Leonard Bernstein biopic ‘Maestro’, directed by Bradley Cooper and available on Netflix on December 20– We interviewed Pablo Larrain in 2021 about his creative process: https://on.ft.com/3oofjVO – Lilah wrote a column about learning to draw: https://on.ft.com/46NBaZt – Simon is on X @simon_schama-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9 Joulu 202325min

As we prepare for our end of year predictions episode, we want to hear from you: what is one thing that you think will happen (or you want to happen!) culturally in 2024?Write us — or even better, open your voice memo app and record us a voice note — and email it to lifeandart@ft.com! Or message Lilah on Instagram @lilahrap. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

6 Joulu 20231min

Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla came out in the US recently and will be out in the UK in January. The film, which follows Elvis Presley’s wife Priscilla through their relationship, is visually stunning, and today, Lilah speaks with its celebrated lead production designer, Tamara Deverell. To recreate Elvis’s homes, including the infamous Graceland, Tamara had to imagine it all from Priscilla’s perspective. Tamara tells Lilah about her creative process and why she sees Priscilla as the story of many women in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, as told through hair and makeup.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. You can email her at lilahrap@ft.com.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – ‘Priscilla’ is out now in the US and will be out in theatres in the UK on January 1. – Earlier this year, Sofia Coppola gave an exclusive interview to the FT’s HTSI: https://on.ft.com/412E2jU -------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 Joulu 202317min

This Friday, we talk through the final season of The Crown. Its first four episodes recently dropped on Netflix, and its depiction of Princess Diana’s death has been controversial. What did we think of the first part of the season? How did The Crown sustain its nine-year journey as a series? And will we see big ambitious prestige TV like it again? Lilah is joined by UK chief political commentator Robert Shrimsley and deputy news editor India Ross.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. You can email her at lilah.raptopoulos@ft.com.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – The first four episodes of The Crown S6 are available on Netflix now. The final four episodes will air on December 14. – Robert’s FT Weekend Magazine satirical column on the ‘ghost of Diana’ scene: https://on.ft.com/47Vpmp5 – The FT’s review of Season 6: https://on.ft.com/3uK2YRa – Robert is on X at @robertshrimsley. More or less recommendations:– Robert recommends the show Slow Horses, which is on Apple+, and the novel series it’s based on by Mick Herron– India wants more good TV, like Euphoria, White Lotus and (controversially) The Idol– Lilah recommends Rocky 2. Just kidding. She recommends doing the thing! Run up the steps like Sylvester Stallone in Rocky 2-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner. Clip courtesy of Netflix.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1 Joulu 202323min

While the Life and Art team takes a break for Thanksgiving, we’re sharing an episode of Tech Tonic, the FT’s technology podcast hosted by innovation editor John Thornhill. This is part one of a two-part series about whether AI can help us speak to animals. Search ‘Tech Tonic’ where you listen or look here for part two: https://on.ft.com/3sQh1DR Here’s what it’s about: A hardware revolution in recording devices and a software revolution in artificial intelligence is enabling researchers to listen in to all kinds of conversations outside the human hearing range, a field known as bioacoustics. Some scientists now believe these developments will also allow us to ‘translate’ animal sounds into human language. In a new season of Tech Tonic, FT innovation editor John Thornhill and series producer Persis Love ask whether we’re moving closer to being able to ‘speak whale’ or even to chat with bats. Free links:– Google Translate for the zoo? How humans might talk to animals– Karen Bakker, scientist and author, 1971-2023– How generative AI really worksCredits: Sperm whale sounds from Project CETI; honeyhunter calls from Claire Spottiswoode Presented by John Thornhill, produced by Persis Love, sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

27 Marras 202329min