Book to Movie/TV Adaptations for 2017 Part 3: May and June

Note: last time I said the Wonder movie was coming out in April because that was what all the info said. Turns out, tricky Hollywood execs of some sort decided to push the movie's release date to November. Either they're trying to get more of the Holiday shopper crowd money or they're trying to dangle it for Oscar bait. That's my only explanation.

Here are all the releases from May and June this year (that I am aware of, so I may miss some):

May 2017

Guardians of the Galaxy Modern Series by various authors

On May 5, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits and I for one am pumped. I need more Baby Groot. There's plenty of Guardians of the Galaxy comics to choose from, I personally recommend starting with the modern series run.

Once and Future King Book 1: The Sword and the Stone by T. H. White

Okay from what I can see King Arthur: Legend of the Sword isn't based on really any of the Arthurian myths and legends. But it does deal with Excalibur and what not so I say, go and read The Sword and the Stone. Legend of the Sword is out May 12

Anne Book 1: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

Also out on May 12 is a Netflix series based on the Anne of Green Gables series, a series I was very fond of as a kid, you can bet your capped sleeves I'm going to watch it.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 9: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney

We appear to be skipping books in the Wimpy Kid movie series, because I'm pretty sure there's only been three of the films so far. But hey, whatever works. The latest Wimpy Kid movie comes your way May 19th.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Another adaptation coming out May 19th is this cute contemporary romance by Nicola Yoon that should appeal to fans of The Fault in Our Stars.

Wakefield by E. L. Doctorow

Another May 19th film is based on a short story by the same author of Ragtime.

Still Star-Crossed by Melissa Taub

I don't know if anyone actually remembers this Romeo and Juliet sequel from back in 2013. But it's apparently going to be a show from Shonda Rhimes on ABC starting May 29th.






June

Wonder Woman by various authors

Finally, FINALLY, we are getting a Wonder Woman movie, out June 6th. I sincerely hope this one is good and was worth the damn wait. I recommend trying the New 52 start and going from there. Also recommend picking The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore to give you more insight into her creator (and it's apparently going to be a biopic soon).

Captain Underpants Book 1: The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Also out June 6th, an animated movie based on this middle-grade series.

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Out June 9th, a creepy movie based around this 1950s gothic novel.

The Beguiled by Thomas Cullinan

The Beguiled, the latest film by Sofia Coppola (out June 23rd), is a remake of a film that was based around this 1970s gothic novel.

Notable Releases: 4/23-4/29

Here are all the releases that came out this past week that are on my radar, I think people might want to know about, or are just big buzzy books worth taking note of.

MG/YA

Talon Book 1: Legion by Julie Kagawa

Newest Talon book. Reminder: get caught up on this series. I haven't read it since book 1.

The Glittering Court: Midnight Jewel by Richelle Mead

Jury is out on whether or not I'll ever read this one. I didn't particularly care for the first book. But I know several other people liked it, so you all might want to know about this release.






Adult Fiction

Elemental Assassin Book 16: Snared by Jennifer Estep

Book 16 in the long running Elemental Assassin. Also need to get caught up on.

Chicagoland Vampires Book 13: Blade Bound by Chloe Neill

Apparently this is the final book in the Chicagoland Vampires series. Another one I really need to get caught up on.

Borne by Jeff Vandermeer

New book from the author of the best selling Southern Beach trilogy (soon to be a movie) also...you know what, just assume I need to get caught up on most things on this list.






Non-Fiction

The Secrets of My Life by Caitlyn Jenner

One of this the many big buzzy memoirs coming out this week.

There is No Fcking Secret: Letters From a Badass Bitch by Kelly Osbourne

This seems to be the week for celebrity memoirs.







Graphic Novels/Manga Releases:

Archie Vol. 3 TP
Road to Riverdale Vol. 2 TP
Justice League Vol. 2: Outbreak TP
X-Files Vol. 2: Come Back Haunted TP
Attack on Titan Vol. 21 manga
Black Widow Vol. 2: No More Secrets TP

Book Review: The Princess Diarest

TITLE: The Princess Diarest
AUTHOR: Carrie Fisher
PUBLISHED: October 2016
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Memoirs
PREMISE: Carrie Fisher talks about her time on the set of the first Star Wars movie.
MY REVIEW: This review comes with a lot of sadness as we lost Carrie Fisher at the end of last year. I've always been a fan of hers, even before I read her awesome book, Wishful Drinking awhile back. So reading this was a weird mix of delightful (because Carrie was a hilarious writer) and sad because of her death.
If you are an uber Star Wars fan looking for new secrets about the film...you won't really find new details here. The thing about her affair with Harrison Ford I believe has been known for awhile. This just gives more detail into what exactly happened and we get a peek into what life was like on set from her perspective. There's even some peeks into her journal from back then, hence the title.
If you were a fan of Wishful Drinking or any of her other memoirs, this is just as delightful as those. It just comes with a touch of bittersweetness now. Carrie Fisher, you will be missed.
WHO SHOULD READ: Carrie Fisher fans, Star Wars fans, fans of memoirs
MY RATING: Four out of Five bittersweet feelings

Reading Through the Classics: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

TITLE: The Unbearable Lightness of Being
AUTHOR: Milan Kundera
PUBLISHED: 1984
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Realistic Fiction/Philosophy
PREMISE: A group of people carry on and have affairs in the Czech Republic before its fall...
MY THOUGHTS: You know that person in the back of the room who is convinced that their taste is the best taste around and they probably know more about stuff then anyone in the classroom, including the teacher? I feel like this book was written for that person. It just has that air about it where you can tell the author thought they were being terribly clever.
Now okay...like most literature: it has pretty writing. But that's pretty much all it has going on for it because the story is dull as dishwater. If you like reading about selfish people having affairs and justifying their horribleness to themselves via philosophy, then you might like this. Me...I like to have an actual plot and character development in my books. There were neither of those here. I won't even go into horrible treatment of female characters in this book. I could rant for hours about it and the sex scenes that were not sexy at all. They were mostly just awkward.
Now it does go a bit into the fall of the Czech Republic because that's where the author is from. Those parts were interesting to me because honestly, I don't know much about the Czech Republic. Some of the insights into the revolution and how the fall happened were interesting and good. I feel like the author maybe should have made this about that instead of focusing on boring people who basically just have sex with each other, justify the fact that they cheated, and then move on.
So yeah...I hated this one. Part of me wants to deny it's a classic out of spite. But my rule is it has to be over thirty years old and people still talk about it and like it or not this book qualifies.
WHO SHOULD READ: Um...philosophy fans? I don't know really.

Notable Releases: 4/16-4/22

Sorry about the delay of this, these past few days have been very busy. But better late then never. Here are the releases from this past week that I'm looking forward to eventually reading, are big buzzy books, or are just books I think people might be interested in knowing.

MG/YA:

Missing by Kelley Armstrong

New Armstrong book is always a thing to take note of.

Lois Lane Book 3: Triple Threat by Gwenda Bond

Have I mentioned I love the Lois Lane books? Because I really do.

The Lotterys Plus One by Emma Donoghue

A middle-grade debut from the author of Room. I'd take that low Goodreads rating with a grain of salt, most of the low ratings seems to be just hand wringing over the fact that there are LGBT characters in this.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Collect Them All by Corinne Duyvis

Just in time for the movie, Marvel releases a book set in the Guardians universe. Written by one of my favorite authors. I can't wait.

Bang by Barry Lyga

Another twisty thriller available from the author of the I Hunt Killers series.








Adult Fiction:

He Said, She Said by Erin Kelly

This week's twisty thriller release.

The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch

Interesting looking new sci-fi book.








Non-Fiction:

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

New true crime book from the author of The Lost City of Z (which incidentally just had its movie release)

Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science by Dave Levitan

Interesting looking science book, that sadly is probably going to become very relevant.






Graphic novels/Manga releases

Clarence Vol. 2: Getting Gilben
Revival Vol. 8: Stay Just a Little Bit Longer
Attack on Titan: Before the Fall Vol. 10 GN
Captain America-Sam Wilson Vol. 4 #takebacktheshield TP
Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2: The War Machines TP
Mockingbird Vol. 2: My Feminist Agenda TP
X-Men 92 Vol. 2: Lilapolooza TP

Reading Through The Classics: A Doll's House (note: there are spoilers for the ending)

TITLE: A Doll's House
AUTHOR: Henrik Ibsen
PUBLISHED: 1879
CATEGORY: Play
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
PREMISE: A wife's life starts to come down around her and then she realizes she was perhaps trapped all along...
MY THOUGHTS: I continue through my new obsession with plays. This recent one has been on lots of feminism lists and...I suppose in a way it is. If you go by first wave feminism rules. Nowadays...I personally have issues with the way the wife left (she could have at least taken her kids with her...). But I notice everyone has different takes on that ending so...
This is a very slow character piece and honestly the realization Nora goes through seems to come out of no where as the first half and midway through the second half, she seems perfectly fine with how things are. It's not terribly subtle in making you the viewer see that this marriage was not okay though.
Honestly, like most classics, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. At the time it was released, it was probably very gutsy as divorce/leaving your husband was just not seen as an option back then. Nowadays...I feel like the pacing is awkward and there could have been a much better lead up to Nora leaving. I have to say I'm very curious about the new play on Broadway that is apparently a sequel to this about what happens when Nora comes back.
WHO SHOULD READ: those interested in first wave feminist literature (who don't mind how dated said literature can be), theater nerds, feminists

Book Review: The Hanging Tree

TITLE: The Hanging Tree
Book 6 in the Peter Grant/Rivers of London series
AUTHOR: Ben Aaronovitch
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mystery
PREMISE: Peter agrees to do a favor that he owes, that favor leads him right to his biggest foe...
MY REVIEW: This review will be short, because my opinion on this series hasn't changed very much from the last series. Basically: I love it.
This is a wacky world with a charming main character. It's a bit like Dresden Files, but with more of an overall plot and not as much accidental (I hope) sexism as that series can have (seriously Butcher....do some research on how not to write female characters. It'll do you loads of good). These are more police procedural oriented then urban fantasy focused, so if that's not your thing, it may not be for you. Luckily, it is my thing so I adore this series.
Basically, if you're already a fan of this series, this latest book will not disappoint. If you haven't discovered this series yet, seriously get on it. Particularly if you love urban fantasy/mysteries.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read the first five books, Dresden Files fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five I need the next book now feelings

Graphic Novel Review: Archie Vol. 2

TITLE: Archie
Vol. 2 in the Archie series
AUTHOR: Mark Waid
ARTIST: Veronica Fish
MIGHT NEED READ BEFORE: Archie Vol. 1
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Romance/Contemporary
PREMISE: Archie and the gang's romantic misadventures in Riverdale continue...
MY REVIEW: I know what you're thinking: Archie? Really? Yes, really. This new series that Mark Waid came out with is just a delight. THIS is how you reboot Archie. The CW Riverdale show is okay and all, but I don't actually consider it an adaptation of Archie. I consider it someone's weird fanfic AU. This Archie, is much more my speed.
The characters are still delightful, in their over-the-top ways. This story continues where the first volume let off, so if you want to read, I recommend starting with the first volume. I love this version of Veronica. It's a much more nuanced version of the Veronica who was just your basic mean girl in the original series.
If you have a fondness for the Archie comics (come on, admit it: you read at least one), I highly recommend giving this new series a shot. There's also a new Jughead series (the first volume I'm reading now), a new Betty and Veronica series and if you're into horror, check out the creepy chilling adventures of Sabrina which crosses over with the weird tales of Archie. And for those who like Riverdale, there's a new comic series about the show starting.
WHO SHOULD READ: Riverdale fans, Archie fans, YA contemporary fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five Team Veronicas (though I think she can do better then Archie)

Book Review: Daughter of the Pirate King

TITLE: Daughter of the Pirate King
Book 1 in a duology
AUTHOR: Tricia Levenseller
PUBLISHED: February 28th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy/Adventure
PREMISE:The daughter of the pirate king gets captured by pirates. Little do the pirates know: her capture was on purpose...
MY REVIEW: I don't know about anyone else, but I wanted to read this one the minute I heard about it. Pirate princess? Like, who doesn't want to read about that? But I also went in with low expectations because...well YA, much as I love it, can have the tendency to take great concepts and just ruin them. Luckily, a few issues aside, the author mostly managed to make this a delightful book.
Are there tropes in here? Yes. But the author tends to subvert them. Every time a familiar scenario would start and I'd "uh oh, here comes sigh worthy part" she managed to take the trope in a way I didn't expect. The romance is a bit insta-lovish but the author never once tries to make the relationship into one of those "meant to be!" couples. She remembers at the end of the day: these two characters are pirates and that means things like romance are always going to be messy and not happy-go-lucky. The main character is a delight, I don't mind the romance, and the adventure is fun.
The thing that made me sigh heavily though was the representation. Mainly...there wasn't much of it. There are bits at the end where I can tell the author went "oh! Everyone here is white and straight...might need to fix that." and what follows is some pretty textbook examples of tokenization (the one character specifically not white was exotified so much in her description) and Bury Your Gays (one character revealed to be gay and then killed). Sigh. This debut was going so well before that. I'm sorry, if you're going to do some poor examples of representation like that, then I'd rather you not have bothered at all.
While there are definitely things that need work, I did ultimately like this book. It's exactly what it advertises itself as: a fun pirate adventure. The author needs to really work on her representation issues but overall, she has a lot of promise. I look forward to the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Pirates of the Carribean fans, those looking for books featuring lady pirates
MY RATING: Four out of Five pirate ships

Book Review: Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

TITLE: Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
AUTHOR: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
PUBLISHED: March 7th, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essay/Feminism
PREMISE: Author/activist Adichie goes into her ideas of feminism in a letter to her friend.
MY REVIEW: A couple of weeks ago, my review of this might have been very different. What happened a couple of weeks ago, you ask? Well, Adichie gave an interview where somehow trans issues came up and she said some pretty transphobic things. There have been more detailed articles about it. This review of the same book goes a bit into what happened.
 I'm conflicted about how to approach this because while I definitely sigh at yet another feminist saying transphobic things (even if it is perhaps said in ignorance, which...I really hope is the case here). I also don't want to suddenly discount all the things she says about issues that she is informed about, such as race/gender etc.
This has clouded my reading of this somewhat and I will freely admit that. There are parts in here I liked and parts in here that...I just kept thinking about those comments in the back of my head and they really contradicted some of this book. So yeah...lots of mixed feelings. I do think I will still read Adichie...I just am going to probably be much more critical of her stuff now then I might have been before.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, fans of We Should All Be Feminists
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five conflicted feelings

Your Syllabus For: Verse Fiction

Continuing the poetry talk from last week, this week's syllabus is for verse fiction. For those that don't know, verse fiction is basically poetry that tells a story. While there can be verses in poetry collections, they're usually not connected story-wise (they may all have a theme though, sometimes). Verse tells a story through its poetry so you're basically reading a fiction novel, but it's in poetry form.

Verse Fiction Syllabus

Make Lemonade books by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Witness by Karen Hesse (as well as others by her)

What My Mother Doesn't Know series by Sonya Sones (and others, she's written quite a few from what I see)

Jack series by Sharon Creech (as well as her other verse books)

The Brimstone Journals by Koertge

Jinx by Margeret Wild

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

Crank series by Ellen Hopkins (as well as her many many other books)

Keesha's House by Helen Frost

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Street Love by Walter Dean Myers

A Bad Boy Can be Good For a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone

I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder (and check out some of her other books that are also verse fiction)

All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg

Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow

Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell

Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams

Exposed by Kimberly Marcus

The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

The Good Braider by Terry Farish

Under the Mesquite by Guadelupe Garcia McCall

Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay

Words With Wings by Nikki Grimes

Karma by Cathy Ostlere

The Language Inside by Holly Thompson

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (and others)

A Time to Dance by Venkatramen

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (as well as her other books, because Woodson is a fantastic writer)

Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

The Lonely Ones by Kelsey Sutton

New Releases: 4/9-4/15

Here are this past week's releases that are on my radar, are books I think people might want to know are out there, or are just getting lots of buzz.

MG/YA

Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz

The uber Hamilton fan in me wants to read this. But the book reader in me who has been burned too many times by Cruz's books is very hesitant. We'll see if I ever read it.

Given Duet Book 1: Given to the Sea by Mindy McGinnis

After The Female of the Species, I'm on the McGinnis fangirl train. So chances are I'll be picking this one up at some point.

The Takedown by Corrie Wang

I've seen this interesting looking contemporary floating around the internet for a bit. Might take a look when I can.







Adult Fiction:

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

Historical fiction from the author of the popular book (that I still haven't read) The Historian.

The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda

This week's twisty thriller offering comes from the author of All the Missing Girls. Which from what I understand was a pretty popular read last year.







Non-Fiction:

Too Much and Not in the Mood by Durga Chew-Rose

Interesting looking new essay collection.

Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression by David Leite

Foodies, if you're looking for a new book dealing with food, sounds like this may be for you.






Some Graphic Novel/Comics Released this week:

Welcome Back Vol. 2 TP
Woods Vol. 6 TP
Batman Vol. 2: I Am Suicide TP
Jem and the Holograms Vol. 4: Enter The Stingers TP
Fix Vol. 2 TP
Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet Vol. 3 TP