It’s that time of year again where we reveal what books, films, TV programs, plays, places and pleasures the Blake Friedmann team have been hooked on outside of the BFLA-bubble over the past twelve months: our annual cultural highlights. Check out previous years here!
Ane reason
Art: The Modern Art Museum in Stockholm
I loved roaming through Moderna Museet with an old friend this autumn. The museum is located in a former navy drill hall on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm and contains a wide range of modern and contemporary art in various media. I didn’t manage to see the entire collection, so I hope I get a chance to revisit the museum again soon!
Podcast: New York City Ballet’s Podcast
This year, I discovered the joy of listening to podcasts while going for long walks and travelling by train. I especially enjoyed the segment of the New York City Ballet’s podcast called New Combinations with Wendy Whelan in which the Associate Artistic Director speaks to the choreographers behind upcoming new works. It’s a great behind-the-scenes sneak peek and it always leaves me feeling inspired even on the greyest of days.
Book: NIGHTCRAWLING by Leila Mottley
I know I’m late in discovering this book and that one of my colleagues already wrote about it last year, but I’m giving it another mention here, as – of all the books I read this year – this is the one that stayed with me long after I’d put it down. Many months after reading it, I’m still haunted by Kiara’s fight for survival in the underbelly of Oakland and the hypnotic musicality of her voice. It’s chilling and heartwarming in equal measure and I can’t recommend it enough.
Anna myrmus
Play: PATRIOTS, Noël Coward Theatre.
One of my highlights this year was Patriots by Peter Morgan, which tells the story of the tragic rise and fall of Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, played by Tom Hollander. I loved that the play was more Shakespearean than political, and was really about Berezovsky’s fatal flaw, underestimating the wrong man (the wrong man being Vladimir Putin). It felt timeless while being about a specific historical moment.
Film: OPPENHEIMER
I didn’t do Barbenheimer in one day, but I hate to admit that I preferred Oppenheimer to Barbie. It was just an epic story which surprisingly I found most interesting in the third act, after the bomb went off. It is mostly men talking, which isn’t usually my thing, but it was this time.
Travel: Malta
This year I went to Malta for the first time and had the best time. There was a lot of hiking, swimming, and eating, which I loved. The landscapes are stunning, so I would recommend it if you’re into hiking, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the food, unless you stick to the Maltese delicacies, which it’s often hard to do (I got served a pizza with a pile of tinned tuna and boiled egg on top). The people are also very friendly and love the English, which feels bizarre. My highlight was ending up in a bar full of Maltese old men who gave us free drinks and sang along to Robbie Williams and Queen all night.
Conrad williams
Magazine: International Piano Magazine
I cannot think of any other magazine I read cover to cover. A new generation of classical pianists is coming to the ascendant, and IP has steered me towards recordings (and live performances) by the wonderful Lukas Geniušas, Saskia Giorgini, Paul Wee, Beatrice Rana and others. The legendary Bryce Morrison’s articles on controversial great pianists are a treat. The recent articles on music by Alkan have been literally snorted off the page. There are welcome sections on piano technique, interviews, and other morsels and delectables that send you waltzing to the piano for a bash or off in search of new CDs/sheet music. This is my world, my tribe, and I am at home in its glorious pages like nowhere else.
Music: Concerto for Solo Piano by Charles Alkan
This epic masterpiece of the piano repertoire has been in my system since the 1970s when I first heard Ronald Smith’s HMV recording and was smitten. Mark Andre Hamelin’s gargantuan recording of 2006 I heard one evening this summer and was so cosmically excited by its superhuman pianism that I decided to learn the first movement (72 pages) for a second time. I had a preliminary encounter with this movement in the 1990s, not unlike Caesar’s first invasion of Britain. Since then, I have been in thrall to its urgent, propulsive drama and forcing myself to go mano a mano with its Grendel-like technical terrors. Anyone intrigued by the sound of this Faustian masterpiece should listen to recordings by John Ogdon, Paul Wee, Hamelin or Smith.
Book: GHOSTED by Mark McCrum
This recent publication by a very old friend of mine is a slyly amusing read indeed. Within the conventions of cosy crime McCrum has insinuated a gift for humorously disobliging observation that has ever been his trademark. The voice is that of a maiden aunt of a certain age, beadily alive to the pretensions of her milieu. The voice is channelled through the ghost of a man attending a funeral that he is shocked to discover is his own. Did he really commit suicide? Not his style, surely! The funeral speeches grate on his nerves: the posturing, insincerity, and flatulence. He floats home for the wake and is none too pleased to see his business partner putting one over on his widow. What the hell’s been going on, and why is he dead, dammit?
A forbidden treat for those of a certain world view and generation.
Daisy way
Television: COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS, BBC iPlayer
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this show, but I ended up binge watching it in two sittings. Lead characters Ashley and Gordon are strangers who are unexpectedly brought together by a minor car accident and an injured dog, who they name Colin. Clever, charming and funny in equal measure, it was a delight from start to finish.
Theatre: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, Almeida Theatre
My first visit to the Almeida was an excellent one! Paul Mescal as Stanley was brilliant as always, but it was Patsy Ferran as Blanche who stole the show for me. A phenomenal performance – I couldn’t take my eyes off the stage even for a moment.
Book: THE ISLAND OF MISSING TREES by Elif Shafak
A magical, moving novel set between 1970s Cyprus and 2010s London, capturing the forbidden young love between teenagers, one a Greek Cypriot and the other a Turkish Cypriot, with the two timelines tied together by narrative from the unique perspective of a fig tree. Lyrical, enchanting and moving, this novel is a heartbreaking reminder of how the terrible effects of war can reverberate down generations.
Finlay charlesworth
Theatre: A MIRROR, Almeida Theatre
I was once again spoiled by the quality of the London theatre scene this year, and honourable mentions must go to Guys and Dolls at The Bridge, The Kiln’s Wife of Willesden and The Old Vic’s Pygmalion – but A Mirror takes the nod as the most surprising, intelligent and unexpected piece of theatre I saw last year, bolstered by an outstanding cast of Jonny Lee Miller, Tanya Reynolds, Micheal Ward and Geoffrey Streatfield. It's about a wedding. Don’t ask any more questions, it’s pointless knowing any more. Just go see it – it’s coming to the West End in 2024.
Music: Spotify Wrapped
An outrageous quantity of superb music was released in 2023 and I really, seriously couldn’t narrow it down. How can you even try to compare Young Fathers’ Heavy Heavy to Kokoroko’s Could We Be More, or Feist’s Multitudes to Ben Howard’s Is It? So this pick goes out to Ezra Collective and to Elephant Sessions, and Lana Del Rey, and Self Esteem, and The National, and Maribou State, and Breabach, and Fionn Regan, and Explosions in the Sky and many others – and to Spotify for chewing up my data and having the cheek to make me feel grateful for it.
Book: POOR THINGS by Alasdair Gray
The simple recycled description of ‘Frankenstein meets Pygmalion” does little justice to this wicked, hilarious book from 1992: a truly radical and unique piece of writing that combines unexpected warmth, humour and humanity with the shocking and grotesque and bracing, boundless feminist and socialist undercurrents. Gray’s characters are unlike any I have read before, and he brings Victorian Europe to life – in particular his beloved Glasgow – in vivid detail, supported on both fronts by his exceptional, meticulous illustrations that pepper the book.
I also caught a preview of next year’s Poor Things film adaptation – a hilarious, outrageous take on the book that both honours and reinvents the source material, stunningly realised for the screen and anchored by Emma Stone’s incredible performance – but for the full visceral, unbelievable experience, start with Gray’s masterpiece.
Isobel dixon
Book: THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN by Thomas Mann
My Very-Long-Book Book Group has inspired me to tackle (and thoroughly enjoy) some monumental tomes over the last year – helped along by lively dinner discussions and some excellent audiobooks (though with manuscript reading to juggle as well, I’m still the slowcoach of the crew). My favourite so far is the third we read: Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, which held me in its grip over many weeks – a slow ascent and lingering sojourn which has stayed with me very vividly, helped on by the echoes of David Rintoul’s excellent narration.
Festival: Crossing Border
Crossing Border Festival in The Hague, coming hot on the heels of Frankfurt Book Fair, is always a very special music and literature gathering. This year I was especially struck by thought-provoking events with Teju Cole, Adania Shibli, Max Porter and Zadie Smith, but also grateful for deep, challenging and sustaining conversations with writers and international publishing friends, away from the auditoria - and some late-night dancing for the soul as well.
A joyful televisual double: Strictly Come Dancing & the Rugby World Cup Final
In a harsh and distressing season, there was intermittent consolation to be found in the non-verbal world: Strictly Come Dancing is always a joyful antidote to the shorter, darker, wintry days, and this year more than ever. I was very glad to be back from a family trip to South Africa in time to catch the spectacular final. But another, earlier final was even more heart-lifting – the Springboks winning the Rugby World Cup, after putting supporters through the mill three times in a row, with narrow, nailbiting wins. It was worth every nerve-shredding moment, especially with captain Siya Kolisi’s inspiring leadership, a powerful reminder of past peace-making and the ongoing work of hope.
James pusey
Travel: Camino de Santiago
A long walk from La Coruña to Santiago de Compostela in early summer loosened the ligaments and blew away some cobwebs. The route took me and five fellow pilgrims through Galicia’s green countryside and dropped us off in front of the stunning cathedral of St James.
Book: THUNDERCLAP by Laura Cumming
The most memorable book I read this year. Intertwining the stories of Carel Fabritius (painter of ‘The Goldfinch’) and the author’s own artist father, the book made substantive use of the slim archival record to produce an illuminating and moving narrative of the conditions in which art was made in 17th-century Holland.
TV: Picasso: The Beauty and the Beast, BBC
The BBC2 documentary series viewed the artist’s achievements alongside his troubling relationships with women. Although we perhaps don’t need reminding that great artists are not always good people, the series seemed to me to handle a great deal of source material, and a wide range of interviewees, in a judicious and even-handed way. Thoughtful and thought provoking.
Julian friedmann
TV: SLOW HORSES
This is actually from the end of last year but it was the first TV series I ever binge-watched (4 episodes a night over 3 nights). Brilliant casting and a wonderfully nuanced riff on a slightly tired spy-thriller genre. Am planning to binge watch again this Christmas when there is a new season – I might have to start at the beginning, however.
Recipe: Confit of Duck
Decades ago, Carole Blake and I spent every summer in S W France where confit was a speciality. Ken Hom taught me to cook it, but I had not done so for years until it was my turn to decide what to cook as my contribution for the large family gatherings this Christmas (12 grandkids and 12 adults: not all at once this year; instead over several meals). So I found a simpler recipe and tried it: worked a treat. You cook them ahead of the day and freeze them; on the day thaw and put in the oven for 10 mins in foil and 5 mins uncovered.
Book: THE COMING WAVE by Mustafa Suleyman
This is about AI and describes it as “the 21st Century’s greatest dilemma”. I did a workshop on using ChatGPT to write a TV series pitch document and found it fascinating. I use it more than I use Google. But, like so many, the implications for the world at large are very two-sided: if it can be used for good it can also be used for bad. Am halfway through reading this book and while I don't think we need to panic, we cannot be complacent. And that is quite apart from training the AI by scraping copyright material. I don't believe there is a breach of copyright, but we don't even have the words to describe some of this new stuff. However the OED has, I believe, accepted the use of the word ‘hallucinating’ for when AI just makes stuff up because it doesn’t know what to say!
Juliet pickering
Book: MAPS OF OUR SPECTACULAR BODIES by Maddie Mortimer
I was recommended this book ages ago and then, predictably, completely forgot about it and re-discovered it when browsing my local bookshop. Had I remembered that it was a story of mothers and daughters where cancer is also a character I may have been scared off, but as it was I went into the novel with no particular expectations, and fell headlong into this clever, sharp, devastating story. The characters are spiky and surprising, and feeling what they’re going through in the most authentic (it seemed to me) ways. There’s so much packed in here, and yet it’s light and playful as well as heavy and dark. A stunning piece of writing and completely consuming read.
Music: City of Bristol Brass Band
I recently went to see the City of Bristol Brass Band playing Christmas tunes (including the soundtrack to The Snowman alongside screening the film) and I’ve never seen such unrestrained dancing and joyful flinging-limbs-about from my 4-year-old. It was a really special event, and the band were so friendly, fun and festive.
Book: WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS by Catherine Newman
The New York Times described this book as ‘excruciatingly heartbreaking’ and it really is, but it is also deeply, darkly funny in the absurd and painful ways that only real life can be. It’s the story of best-friendship that I’ve been looking for, for a long time, and it absolutely nails what it is to know your best friend in a bone-deep sense, and see all your best and worst traits in each other. Like Maps… above, it deals with huge love and loss, but it’s done so exquisitely and humorously that I gladly devoured every word and emotion. I can’t recommend it enough, but find a place to read it where you can cry your eyes out and no one will interrupt you.
Special mention to Adventuremice, the gorgeously illustrated books by Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve; they have such an innocent sense of adventure and amazement at the world, and are perfect for reading aloud.
Kate burke
TV: THE LAST OF US, HBO
I love it when a random (well, to me, anyway – I wasn’t aware of the game it’s based on!) TV show pops up and is just excellent from the outset. While I’m always a fan of a post-apocalyptic story, The Last of Us felt more character-driven to me and unpredictable plot-wise, and I loved everyone in it. Episode Three was particularly brilliant, in that it sort of stood apart from the first two and was its own mini story, and a tragic one at that. I definitely had tears in my eyes…
Theatre: CABARET, The KitKat Club
I adore Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s music and have seen her sing live before, but went to see Cabaret with some trepidation (not being a big musical fan and not knowing that she could act!). She was fantastic – as was the whole cast – and this was a fun and hectic yet also poignant show to see in the theatre. I didn’t really know the story or the songs but loved it from start to finish! It felt like a bit of a cultural moment to see Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor) and Jake Shears together on stage for this limited run.
Film: ANATOMY OF A FALL
I found a lot of films (and cinema experiences) this year over-hyped and disappointing, but I went to see Anatomy of a Fall with no preconceived notions, and not knowing much about it. It’s a slow burn sort of family drama type of thriller with no real conclusion but it’s engaging and tense the whole way through, particularly in the courtroom scenes. It felt fresh and different, and I loved the constant switch from French to English and back again. Would highly recommend!
Nicole etherington
Exhibition: DAVID HOCKNEY: DRAWING FROM LIFE
I recently went to the National Portrait Gallery’s Hockney exhibition, which had initially been on show in 2020 but was cut short by the Covid Pandemic. NPG restaged the show and included Hockney’s more recent Normandy paintings. I’m a longtime admirer of Hockney’s work – his paintings and later iPad drawings are so vibrant and have always been incredibly joyful to me – but it was interesting to see how prolific he was with a sketchbook during the pandemic years and also to see his monochrome works.
Book: IN MEMORIAM by Alice Winn
I have been a slow reader this year, but I devoured most of In Memoriam in one sitting. I was struck by how young and painfully naïve the characters are at the start of the novel and how this is eroded, spending their formative years in the trenches, confronted daily by the realities of war.
Trip: Buje/Piran
Summer took me to Buje, a Croatian town on the border with Slovenia. Istria is renowned for its truffles (of which I ate many) and its picturesque towns and landscapes. Highlights of my stay included a visit to the hilltop town of Motovun and a day trip to the Slovenian port town Piran where I had some of the best pasta I’ve ever eaten (in a restaurant called Rostelin).
Sian ellis-martin
Book: REALLY GOOD, ACTUALLY BY MONICA HEISEY
This book sat on my shelf for a while after I received it in a book subscription box; I’d read so many novels narrated by anxious or depressed millennial women trying to find themselves and felt disappointed by most of them. So even when I did pick this up to read, I was sceptical about whether I’d actually like it. But I really couldn’t put it down. Heisey approaches the topic of a marriage breakup with the perfect balance of humour and stark honesty, and I often found myself in awe of the way she could take me from laughter on one page to tears on the next. If you’re a Nora Ephron fan, this book is for you!
TV: THE LAST OF US, HBO
The Last of Us is the perfect blend of gory horror and harrowing, emotional scenes. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are both amazing and the development of their relationship throughout the episodes is finely crafted and extremely moving. The big zombie moments are impactful, but it’s the humanity at the heart of the show that did it for me.
TV: TOP BOY, Channel 4/Netflix
I hadn’t seen Top Boy until this year when I binged it from start to finish in an embarrassingly short amount of time. There are some scenes that I can still see so vividly in my mind (the fire, Jaq and Lauryn fighting in the bedroom, Jamie…) because of the stellar cast and acting and the authenticity of the writing. One of the best watches this year for sure, but also probably one of my all-time favourites.
In 2024 I’m looking forward to seeing Ryan Calais Cameron’s For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy at the Garrick Theatre next year. I’ve heard really good things and was so pleased that it’s coming back for a limited run in 2024.
Susie bloor
Book: THE CELESTINE PROPHECY by James Redfield
An adventure of self-discovery through the sequential unfolding of 9 key insights, discovered in an ancient manuscript in Peru, which were banned by the Church, and kept secretly. My father handed me this book which I read as a younger woman, and I found the story to be captivating, exploring the unknown questions in life: why are we here? what’s our purpose?
Now as an older woman and re-reading this book, I found a deeper connection and understanding of how it allows you to make sense of synchronicities that happen in life. No such thing as coincidence.
TV: NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service)
This year I have enjoyed watching the series NCIS. A crime drama based around the deaths of US Naval personnel, both myself and my partner love to hazard a guess as to ‘whodunnit’. As with all, getting to know the characters is paramount to the enjoyment: Abby, the eccentric Goth and animal loving Forensic Scientist; Ziva, the Israeli Assassin on loan from Mossad; Special Agent McGee, the computer whizz kid; Gibbs, Lead Agent, ex-marine sniper and father to all; and my favourite, Tony De DiNozzo – a fierce film buff who is always referencing lines from famous films.
Place: Benidorm
Benidorm is an ever-capturing beautiful stretch of sand, sea, and sky in Spain. Staying in Canfelli, situated at the top of the hill in the Old Town, next to the Castle Viewpoint, also known as ‘The Balcony of the Mediterranean', and next to San Jamie Church, built in the 18th Century, provided a beautiful and tranquil setting, to not only have fun, but to relax and re-charge, all in a matter of just a few days which felt more like a few weeks, finding myself getting lost amongst the crooked lanes, filled with shops, tapas bars and restaurants.
Tabitha topping
Book: BIOGRAPHY OF X by Catherine Lacey
I found it very difficult to just pick one book here (and spent a lot of time dithering over other, equally worthy titles) but eventually landed on Biography of X by Catherine Lacey – a novel that I haven’t been able to shake since reading in the Spring. In an alternative America, a widow writes a biography of her recently deceased artist wife. But what is true and what is not? Many have commented on its formal innovation, the way it interrogates the nature of biography, love and grief – and yes, while all that is true, it is also just a really enjoyable read.
Podcast: YOU ARE GOOD
Initially conceived as a way to talk about their complicated relationships with their fathers and men in general via the medium of film, You Are Good has since broadened their mandate and they are now a ‘feelings podcast about movies’. The concept is simple: a guest will bring their favourite film to the podcast and then they talk about why they love it – feelings and all. It’s really truly lovely – no snobbery or pretension – and when a film touches on a sensitive topic they discuss it with such empathy and thoughtfulness I often cry. Warm, funny and extremely comforting. A hug in podcast form.
Film: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
I cannot believe I got through 26 years without having seen this (family – friends – how could you do this to me?). An almost perfect musical. An awkward bespectacled man makes a Faustian bargain with a carnivorous plant bent on world domination so he can win the girl of his dreams? Sign me up! It also happens to have an excellent soundtrack and Steve Martin (in perhaps his greatest ever role) playing a sadistic dentist.
In 2024 I’m looking forward to books! So many books! In particular Like Love: Essays and Conversations by Maggie Nelson. Like many, I was thrilled by the way her memoir The Argonauts dismantled binaries, exploring ideas of love, language and family making, and I cannot wait to get my hands on the latest collection of her essays – out May 2024 from Fern Press.
