Here are the books (and corresponding movies!) to add to your to-be-read queue, in order of their release date to make things easy for you. Click on the “who’s in it” link to check out the trailer (if one exists)!
The Alienist
Written by: Caleb Carr
Genre: Mystery/Historical Fiction
Release Date: It’s on now! Airing Mondays on TNT
Who’s In It: Daniel Bruhl, Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans
Why it’s worth watching: I haven’t read this book yet, but it sounds like it’s right up my alley. It’s about Dr. Lazlo Kreizler the titular Alienist aka oldy-time psychologist who works together with his news reporter friend to uncover a serial killer in 19th century New York City. This may be conjecture, but it sounds like a Gilded Age version of Mindhunter. Just a couple of men profiling serial killers, having a grand ole time! And if they had trouble getting people to believe what they were doing was valuable in the 70s, I can only imagine how hard it was in the 1890s…Read it!
Every Day
Written by: David Levithan
Genre: YA Fiction
Release Date: 2/23/18 – It’s out now!
Who’s In It: Angourie Rice, Owen Teague, Debby Ryan (idk these kids and now I feel old)
Why it’s worth watching: I read this for my #TNReads Challenge for this category, and I’m a little conflicted about it. I still haven’t decided whether I enjoyed this book or not. The concept is interesting: our main character ‘A’ wakes up every morning in a different body. Which A has accepted – until A happens to meet an intriguing girl. Then becoming a different person every day doesn’t seem quite as interesting anymore if it means she won’t be around.
Novel idea, right? But it’s conception is a little lackluster in my opinion. Because A is everchanging, it’s hard to get attached to the character. It’s an interesting study of gender and love, but even in that regard, I don’t think it pushed the envelope enough. And there was arguably a GIANT case of instalove – and we all know that is just WRONG. That being said, I still finished the book and I’m curious to see how it get’s translated into a movie. I could see it being more evocative in a visual format. Read it!
Red Sparrow
Written by: Jason Matthews
Genre: Spy Thriller
Release Date: 3/2/18 – It’s out now!
Who’s In It: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker
Why it’s worth watching: A Russian ballerina turned spy played by Jennifer Lawrence? Sign me up. After the nonsense that was Mother! I’m excited to see JLaw back in action. She attends Sparrow School to learn what the Goodread’s description calls “sexpioanage”…so this should be a pretty interesting tale. Sounds like there will be forbidden romance between spies and some insight into how Russia will soon be taking over our world, I’m sure. Nothing to worry about! The author is a former CIA director so he probably doesn’t know what he’s talking about at all… Read it!
Love, Simon (aka Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda)
Written by: Becky Albertalli
Genre: YA Fiction
Release Date: 3/16/18
Who’s In It: Nick Robinson, Katherine Langford, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Garner
Why it’s worth watching: We’ve already written about our love for Becky Albertalli here, so it’s no surprise this book is on the list. It actually fits into 2 categories on the #TNReads Challenge – this one, obvs, and also book 16: with an LBGTQ protagonist. Nothing like a two-fer!
By all accounts this book is entertaining, so finger’s crossed the movie delivers even with a new name. Plus that Nick Robinson is adorable. Read it before it comes out!
Sharp Objects
Written by: Gillian Flynn
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: June 2018
Who’s In It: Amy Adams, Chris Messina
Why it’s worth watching: This has apparently been on my to-read list since 2014…I’m doing great. To add insult to injury, I’m pretty sure this book is currently sitting on my shelf, so it’s not even like I don’t have access to it. All that nonsense aside, I think this will make a great TV show. We’ve already seen one pretty successful adaptation of a Gillian Flynn novel in Gone Girl, so I have high hopes for this. It will be airing on HBO which means it will be dark and most likely troubling.
And it will be exciting to see Amy Adams in such a dark role. I know she’s been in so many other things but all I can think of right now are Enchanted and Leap Year which is both incredibly light-hearted. Give me some gritty, psychologically troubled Amy Adams being scared in an old Victorian house and I’m so there. Read it before it comes out!
Crazy Rich Asians
Written by: Kevin Kwan
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: August 2018
Who’s In It: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Awkwafina
Why it’s worth watching: I think this will make for a really fun watch. The plot centers around a Chinese-American woman who goes to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s family for the first time. And finds out that he’s super crazy rich. Isn’t that always the dream? My boyfriend has already let me down in this regard so it will be nice to live vicariously through someone else. Yes, there will be drama and rich people sticking their noses up at her, but I’m sure it will all end well…This book is the first in a series so there’s potential for even more entertainment!
Bonus: this is one of our Boozy Book Club reads for March! Join us in our read-along and then we can follow up with a movie discussion this summer! Read it before it comes out!
The Darkest Minds
Written by: Alexandra Bracken
Genre: YA Fiction
Release Date: 9/14/18
Who’s In It: Mandy Moore, Gwendoline Christie, Amandla Stenberg
Why it’s worth watching: This book came out in the height of the dystopian craze in 2012, with your Hunger Games and Divergents. And you know we all went out to see those, so it will be nice to have a new series in that genre to look forward to. There will be action, a smidge of YA romance, and some heavy hitter actors making appearances. You had me at Gwendoline Christie aka Brienne of Tarth. Read it before it comes out!
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
Written by: Maria Semple
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: 10/19/18
Who’s In It: Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig, Judy Grear
Why it’s worth watching: I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t the biggest fan of this book. That being said, I read it back when it came out in 2012 and don’t remember a thing about it. Apparently, my memory is not so good. Despite all that, I can see this premise working really well as a movie. Cate Blanchett will make a compelling Bernadette – she’s whimsical and can play that mix of endearing yet a bit cold, which is vaguely how I remember the character being. Kristen Wiig also makes an appearance and I’ll see anything she’s in, no questions asked. Richard Linklater is directing this, and he’s behind one of my favorite movies, School of Rock (don’t judge me!), as well as Before Sunrise and Boyhood, which capture a bit of the feel that I expect this movie to have. Looks like I might have to revisit this book…Read it before it comes out!
