Top Ten Tuesday: Books that should be adapted into Netflix shows or movies

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books that Should be Adapted into Netflix Shows/Movies.

Two of the types of watching I like to do on Netflix are (1) scifi/fantasy series and (2) light and fluffy romantic movies. Yes, these are really completely different, but each takes me away from the day-to-day and lets me become immersed in other worlds or other people’s lives. And who doesn’t need that right now?

My top ten picks:

First, to be made into one or more seasons of a series:

1. The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black: The story of mortals being raised in Faerie and rising to power by their wits could be so excellent as a series! I’d love to see the scenery, the magical elements, and the characters themselves.

2. The Finishing School series by Gail Carriger: Can you imagine how awesome this would be as an ongoing series? Maybe one season per book? The characters, the costumes, the dirigibles — I need this in my life!

3. InCryptids by Seanan McGuire: I think this could have a little bit of a Grimm or Supernatural vibe, but a little more light-hearted. A big extended family of cryptozoologists dealing with scary enemies and all sorts of entertaining otherworldly beings. All this, plus ballroom dancing!

4. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig: Well, now probably isn’t the best time for a series about a pandemic wiping out humanity — but I loved this book, and could see the story working as a 10-part series.

5. The Beauty (graphic novels) by Jeremy Haun: Again, a story about a virus maybe isn’t a great choice — but it would be very cool to see this story about beauty being a sexually transmitted disease brought to life. It’s weird and dark, but I think it could work!

6. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi: The concept is so fantastic, and don’t we need another great space battle saga in our lives?

Next, a bunch of sweet books that would make great rom-com movies:

7. Well Met by Jen DeLuca: Romance at the Ren Faire! And since there are two more books on the way, if the first movie was a success, there’s material for more.

8. The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary: The basic concept of two people sharing an apartment but never meeting is just so cute. I’d love to see it on my screen. I bet it would be hilarious to watch.

9. The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan: Any of the three books in this loosely connected series would be great, but this one is my favorite. Between selling books out of a van, finding true love in the Highlands, and dealing with a strange but endearing family, I think it could be a hit! And like with Well Met, there are more books, so more related plots to spin off!

And finally, a book that I think would make a terrifying movie:

10. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: The clothes! The setting! The creepy house and the weird people there! It’s just begging to be made into a film.

**Updated to add: Wishes do come true! Hulu is developing Mexican Gothic as a series! Woo hoo! Read about it, here.**

What’s on your TTT list this week? Please share your links!

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9Aug2020

Binge ideas needed – ready, set, go!

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Binge-watching during the pandemic… well, it passes the time! I’ve actually watched some great TV over the last several months, and now I need some fresh ideas.

So hey, why not turn to the hive-mind for suggestions? I’ll tell you what I’ve loved, and hopefully, you’ll tell me what to watch next. Deal?

So far, my best binges have been:

Harry Potter movies
Fast & the Furious movies (yes, I have a teen-aged son…)
Jane the Virgin
Gilmore Girls
Schitts Creek
Derry Girls
Harlots
Veronica Mars
The Witcher
Never Have I Ever
Dead To Me
Hollywood
Sex Education

I don’t like to watch:

Police procedurals
Hospital procedurals
Crime, violence, gangs, drug cartels (so despite my son’s best efforts, I’m not going to watch Narcos or Queen of the South)

Series I’ve started but haven’t finished:

Anne with an E: I enjoyed the few episodes I watched (only 3 or 4), but just haven’t been in the mood to continue
The Vampire Diaries: I watched devotedly through season 6, then walked away. Should I go back?
The Umbrella Academy: I watched three episodes of season 1, but I don’t really see myself continuing.
The Outsider: I loved the book, and I thought the few episodes I watched were really good — but I just don’t think I’ve been in the right mindset for something this dark.

I’ve been thinking about watching Cursed, and I’ve been told I should watch Succession. Meanwhile, I’m watching season 1 of Supernatural in bits and pieces, but don’t feel hooked yet.

So….

I’m open to suggestions! What have been your favorites binges during your months at home? What should I bump to the top of my to-watch list?

All ideas are welcome — ready, set, go!

19May2019

TV Time: What’s Lisa watching? Further random thoughts from my couch.

Posted in Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Check it out — my 2nd TV-related post in two days!

I wouldn’t say I’ve been watching more TV than usual lately, but I thought I’d mention a few shows that were highlights for me this past week:

The Big Bang Theory. Is it too obvious to say that this show when out with a bang? After 12 seasons, the series finale of The Big Bang Theory aired this past week. I’ve had my moments of absolutely loving this show, although I think the last few seasons have been kind of spotty and the jokes a little too predictable. Still, twelve seasons with characters we care about is a pretty big accomplishment. For the most part, I was happy with the finale. (Spoilers ahoy!)

Sheldon and Amy won a Nobel prize!
Raj got to go the award ceremony with Sarah Michelle Gellar — not too shabby for a guy who didn’t used to be able to speak in front of women.
We finally got to see the Wolowitz children. (Adorable, of course).

Okay, but here’s where I get a little stuck: Penny is pregnant. After making very clear that she had no desire to have children, ever, and Leonard asserting that he accepted her choice, the show left Penny with a surprise, unplanned pregnancy, and she and Leonard seem perfectly happy about it. What happened? Why did the show feel the need to tack this on at the very end? If Penny had been ambivalent, or had said she didn’t want kids YET, it might feel more okay. But no, suddenly she’s totally into it, with no on-screen discussion whatsoever.

Look, I get that these are fictional characters on a sit-com and that the series finale is not the place for a serious conversation. But then why include it at all? It’s as if the show is saying that a marriage can’t be truly happy without children, that a couple needs a baby to be complete. And I think this sucks. Why not respect Penny’s very clear choice? Or at the very least, deal with it earlier in the season so Penny and Leonard could talk about it in a meaningful way? Choosing to be childless is a valid choice, and the show should have respected it, rather than forcing Penny and Leonard — a couple who don’t follow the usual path in their marriage — into a happily-ever-after formula that doesn’t suit them. Grrr.

Dead To Me. Who else is watching/has watched Dead To Me on Netflix? I just binged it this weekend, and loved it. With a terrific cast and a pretty dark sense of humor, the show zips through 10 30-minute episodes. Never boring, often deeply emotional, with plots twists and craziness and ridiculous situations galor, Dead To Me is hard to describe without giving away key plot elements. Let’s just say: It’s the story of a recently widowed mother of two who befriends a somewhat kooky woman through a grief support group, but really nothing is as simple as it seems. There’s a powerhouse ending — I want more!

Check out the trailer:

Awesome, right?

Santa Clarita Diet: Oh, I’m so sad to have come to the end of this zombies-in-suburbia series! What a pity that Netflix has chosen not to renew it for a 4th season. Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant are spot-on hilarious as realtors Sheila and Joel, who sell houses, raise their daughter, and find bad guys for Sheila to kill and eat in order to quench her cravings for flesh. Sheila is undead, you see, and that’s kind of hard on a marriage. This show is amazing, really — crazy developments, terrific cast and guest stars, and buckets and buckets of blood (which means that if you’re at all squeamish, you probably shouldn’t watch).

The show ended with a cliffhanger, which makes it all the more awful that there won’t be more. C’mon, Netflix, give it another chance!

Game of Thrones: For anyone talking about TV today, this is the elephant (dragon?) in the room. But I’m just not going to get into it right now. There are thousands and thousands of opinion pieces out there related to the season so far — no one needs mine on top of that! As I write this, we’re about 4.5 hours away from the series finale, and I can barely breathe through all my anxiety over the ending. Will I be satisfied? Will the show do the remaining characters justice? AAAAAAGH. So hard to wait.

♦♦♦♦♦

Are you watching any of these? Please share your thoughts!

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30Aug2018

A book & a movie: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Posted in Book Reviews, Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

It’s the classic tug-of-war: Book or Movie?

In the case of To All the Boys I’ve Love Before, why not enjoy both? That’s what I did this past week!

I watched the Netflix movie last weekend. Here’s the synopsis (via IMDb):

When her secret love letters somehow get mailed to each of her five crushes, Lara Jean finds her quiet high school existence turned upside down.

Okay, that doesn’t really tell us all that much.

The movie is super adorable. 16-year-old Lara Jean, a high school junior, lives at home with her widowed dad and her two sisters — but older sister Margot’s departure for college in Scotland throws the normal family routines out of whack. Lara Jean is missing Margot… and then somehow, her old love letters to five different crushes from her past end up in the boys’ hands, and things get rom-com cute and chaotic.

But what about the book? After watching the movie, I decided I needed to read the book — ya know, just for comparison’s sake. The book, by Jenny Han, is sweet and quirky (kind of like Lara Jean!). Here’s the book synopsis, from Goodreads:

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them… all at once?

Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

In both versions, the main boys on Lara Jean’s very confused mind are Josh, the boy next door and Margot’s ex-boyfriend, and Peter Kavinsky, the super popular guy who once kissed Lara Jean back in middle school. Josh is blown away by Lara Jean’s letter confessing feelings for him, and Peter is trying to deal with a break-up from his long-term girlfriend, so Lara Jean and Peter end up as fake boyfriend and girlfriend, just to get everyone off their backs. Yes, the fake relationship plot has been around for a while, but To All the Boys manages to keep it fresh and fun.

The movie version is a great way to enjoy the full story without a whole lot of time invested, and the cast is pretty terrific. I have a definite weakness for John Corbett, who plays the dad (which gives you a good idea of my demographic, btw), but I appreciated the young’uns who make up the teen characters’ part of the cast.

I was a little confused, watching the movie, by the ethnicity of the sisters. According to the book, Lara Jean and her sisters are biracial, with a Korean mom and a white dad. The TV sisters appear to be from different ethnic backgrounds, which I kept thinking the movie might explain (are they adopted? I hadn’t read the book yet when I watched it). To complicate matters further, according to IMDb, the actress playing Lara Jean is of Vietnamese descent, and the actress playing Margot is of Chinese descent. No info on the younger sister (who, based just on looks, doesn’t appear to be Asian), but I thought it was odd casting to pick three girls who look nothing alike and then just ignore their diverse backgrounds. Sorry, I’m not trying to be offensive here, but not being familiar with the story beforehand, I was distracted by how distinctly un-related the sisters looked, and it took me a while to realize that the movie was just going to leave it all unacknowledged. Weird to get hung up on that, I know, but there it is.

The movie advances the plot a bit further than the book — the book leaves the ending on an open note. We know (and Lara Jean finally knows) how she feels, but not what the outcome will be. The movie has a suitably romantic and adorable ending… but since the book is the first in a trilogy, I assume we’ll get there in book #2.

Of course, I’m now a little worried about how there can be two more books’ worth of story left to tell, because the movie ending was pretty perfect and swoony. Now I’m anxious about what comes after that happy ending, and what direction books 2 and 3 might take the characters in.

So, which did I like more — book or movie? Hard to say! I’m glad I watched the movie first (which is definitely unusual for me). It strikes all the right notes, condensing teen worry, flirtation, hard family issues, mean girls, fitting in, first crushes, and the rush of first love, into a (less than) two hour experience that feels fun, fresh, and totally satisfying. If you need a quick mood boost, this is perfect (maybe with a mug of hot cocoa and some delicious cookies to go with). I liked the book a lot, especially the deeper look into the relationships between Margot, Lara Jean, and younger sister Kitty, and I’m glad I read it — but even if I hadn’t, the movie hits all the right beats and feels complete in and of itself.

So yeah, I say do both! Watch the movie, read the book… and as for me, I’m already moving on to book #2, PS I Still Love You… hoping there’s plenty more quirky romance and sisterly shenanigans in store!