Controversial opinion: read the book before its tv/movie adaptation comes out.
I can already hear the arguments in the comments and on twitter about which you should indulge in first to save yourself possible heartbreak. Personally, after I see a movie, it always feels too late to go back and read the book. So, when I know that a tv of film adaptation for a book is coming out, I try my hardest to read it first.
Regardless of where you stand on the Read It First vs Read It After debate, we can all agree that there’s nothing like seeing a story you only imagined come alive brilliantly on screen. So to help prep our reading list, I came up with a roundup of tv shows and movies coming out within the next few months that are based off novels diverse novels or will have diverse creators & casting.
Whether it be on your commute to work, before you go to bed, or on the beach these are definitely worth taking the time to read.
Americanah
About: Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira’s planned adaptation of the Chimamanda Adiche’s novel “Americanah” has a 10 episode show lined up for HBO Max. When she was a teenager Ifemelu, fell in love with her classmate Obinze while living in military-ruled Nigeria. As young adults, they each depart for the West, with Ifemelu heading for America, where, despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple for the first time with what it means to be black living in America. Obinze had hoped to join her in America, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous undocumented life in London.
Who’s in it: Lupita Nyong'o, Uzo Aduba, Corey Hawkins, Zackary Momoh
Read Americanah
Release date: TBA from HBO
P.S. I Love You 2
About: If you love a cute rom-com you’ve probably seen the film To All The Boys I Loved Before a few million times on Netflix and you can’t wait to see the sequel coming out just before Valentine’s Day! In part 2, Lara Jean and Peter have finally taken their relationship from pretend to officially official. They’re going on romantic dinner dates, holding hands, giving valentine’s day gifts, the works. When another recipient of one of her old love letters (from part 1) enters the picture and Lara Jean realises she also has feelings for him. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?
Who’s in it: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Madeleine Arthur, Ross Butler
Release date: February 12 on Netflix
High Fidelity
About: Hulu is also swinging in this Valentine’s Day with their gender and race swap on British novel High Fidelity was not something anyone could have anticipated, but we’re all pleasantly surprised by it. This Rom-Com follows Rob, the owner of a semi-failing record store, as she takes a look back at the five biggest heartbreaks in her life, all so she can figure out why she keeps having her heart broken.
Who’s in it: Zoë Kravitz, Jake Lacy, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph
Read High Fidelity
Release date: 14th February on Hulu
Little Fires Everywhere
About: Based on Celeste Ng’s 2017 turn-pager, Little Fires Everywhere follows the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and an enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives when they move into their rental property.
Who’s in it: Kerry Washington, Reese Witherspoon, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Joshua Jackson.
Read Little Fires Everywhere
Release date: March 13 on Hulu
The Underground Railroad
About: This Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner’s screen adaptation is highly anticipated by readers and cinephiles alike. This historical fiction TV series directed by Barry Jenkins follows Cora, a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia, who finds out about Underground Railroad, and decides to take a terrifying risk and escape with Caesar, a newly arrived slave from Virginia.
Who’s in it: Thuso Mbedu, Chase W. Dillon, Aaron Pierre, Joel Edgerton
Read The Underground Railroad
Release date: TBA on Amazon Video
Lovecraft Country
About: If you’re into drama horror this is the HBO tv serie created by Jordan Peele, Misha Green, J.J. Abrams and Ben Stephenson promises to be the story you’re craving. In this story, Atticus Black joins his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father. This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the terrors of white America with monsters that could’ve been ripped from an H.P. Lovecraft book.
Who’s in it: Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Wunmi Mosaku, Aunjanue Ellis, Michael K. Williams, and Abbey Lee
Read Lovecraft Country
Release date: TBA from HBO
The Witches
About: This Roald Dahl’s children’s book gets a dark fantasy twist for the big screen. In The Witches a little boy stumbles across a conference of witches while staying with his grandmother at a hotel, and gets transformed into a mouse by the Grand High Witch, played by Anne Hathaway.
Who’s in it: Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Chris Rock
Read The Witches
Release date: In Theatres October 9th