FT Weekend: Our summer books and films special
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 July 2022
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week is our summer books and films spectacular, full of recommendations of things to read and watch. First, Lilah is joined by literary editors Fred Studemann and Laura Battle to explore the FT's Summer Books special. They suggest a range of light summer reads, sharp non-fiction, deep dives, thrillers and classics to take on your summer holiday, and talk trends in book publishing. Then, deputy arts editor Raphael Abraham recommends the top films to look out for this summer. After watching 24 films in less than a week at the Cannes film festival, he's filtered the new releases down to a must-see list.
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Tell us about your own favourite new books and films! We’ll share them alongside the episode on our social platforms. Email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap.
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Links and mentions from the episode:
Here’s Laura’s list of the best fiction summer reads: https://on.ft.com/3AvtuPg. The whole summer books special is at http://ft.com/summerbooks.
Books mentioned:
–Audiobooks: Bad Actors by Mick Herron and Ulysses by James Joyce
–Novels that span centuries: To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara and Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel
–Beach read: You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
–Fun non-fiction: Circus of Dreams by John Walsh
–Empire books: Legacy of Violence by Caroline Elkin and In the Shadow of the Gods by Dominic Lieven
–BRussian influence: Putin’s People by Catherine Belton and Butler to the World by Oliver Bullough
–AI simulation: The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier
Stories mentioned:
–Marriage in all its divine tedium: https://on.ft.com/3KXOBfm
–Edward Luce on whether America is headed for another civil war: https://on.ft.com/3yJ43az
–Fred’s BookTok column: https://on.ft.com/3GEC5Ad
Films to watch this summer, from Raph:
–Aftersun: https://on.ft.com/3uUt9lJ
–Nitram: https://on.ft.com/3auhgvs
–Hit the Road
–McEnroe
–Three Thousand Years of Longing: https://on.ft.com/3nMshLK
–Elvis: https://on.ft.com/3P1Uaeu
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Special offers for FT Weekend listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial can be found here: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast
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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's summer, and you know what that means. It's time for a plymoth gin and tonic. |
| 0:07.0 | So grab yourself a glass and some ice. Start with a pourer of plymoth gin, |
| 0:13.0 | which is distilled using a blend of seven botanicals. Add in some tonic, |
| 0:18.0 | then finish with a slice of orange. |
| 0:21.0 | Now that is the perfect gin and tonic. |
| 0:25.0 | Plymoth gin distilled with care and craft in England since 1793. |
| 0:32.0 | If you're going on vacation this summer, you're going to want a few books to take with you. |
| 0:37.0 | And if you'll be in transit, you might opt for an audiobook. |
| 0:41.0 | I'll let you in on something. I tend to listen to thrillers on audio, |
| 0:45.0 | and I would call it a highlight, McCaren's latest, bad actors. |
| 0:51.0 | But this year, I've been listening to Ulysses. |
| 0:54.0 | Wow. This is Fred's summer reading. |
| 0:57.0 | Fred's summer reading, yeah, exactly. |
| 0:59.0 | That's Fred Studeman, the FT's literary editor. |
| 1:02.0 | He's talking to me in our deputy books editor, Laura Battle, about his summer book picks. |
| 1:07.0 | And as you heard, one of them is the audiobook of Ulysses by James Joyce. |
| 1:12.0 | Notoriously, that is one of the harder books to decipher in the English language. |
| 1:17.0 | How many hours is that, Fred? What weeks of your life is that? |
| 1:20.0 | I'll be honest with you. I started in February, and it's an ongoing project. |
| 1:27.0 | But I just like, I just love the way of dipping in and out. |
| 1:32.0 | And it's read by Jim Norton. It's done very well. |
| 1:35.0 | And he captures those sort of crazy moments when bloomers in a pub |
... |
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