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| a weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves |
As per usual with the last Thursday of the month, today, instead of movies, we are talking about TV series, and more specifically about TV series that have yet to be made as we are talking about books we'd like to see on the small screen. I picked three books I loved but, as I'm watching Normal People and I am not enjoying it, I'm not sure I really want to see them turned into series after all.
1984 by George Orwell
I know there are already several adaptations of Orwell's famous novel — both films and series — but I'd really like to see a (new) series.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
This is the best book I've read this year so far and I'm pretty sure it'll remain the best book of 2021 for me. I honestly can't remember the last time a book engaged me so much that I literally spent hours reading it. I just couldn't put it down. It's a long book and hence a TV series would be the only way to bring it to the screen and do a good job.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
I absolutely adored this book. I fell in love with the character immediately, it was engaging and suspenseful, and such a rollercoaster of emotions. HBO would do a great job adapting this in my opinion.
So much yes for Where the Crawdads Sing! HBO would do such a good job of it, too. It's way too detailed for a movie.
ReplyDeleteExactly! A movie adaptation could never do the novel justice.
DeleteI haven't read any of these even though I've had 1984 on my shelf for years. Some day lol
ReplyDeleteWhat are you waiting for? It is such a good book! A bit scary though considering how our society is looking like Orwell's with each passing day.
DeleteI believe Where the Crawdads Sing is going to be a movie, which means it will probably be disappointing. I agree on 1984! It feels so relevant today that I'm shocked there's not a new adaptation in the works yet.
ReplyDeleteThat's the worst news ever! They are so going to ruin that beautiful book.
DeleteI didn't love 1984, I'm sure the goal was to be dreary and unsettling so in that way it achieved its purpose but I did not enjoy reading it. It was however well-written and having seen a couple of different tries at an adaptation I'd say the book hasn't been done justice yet so another adaptation would be a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI tried with Don Quixote but attempted it at the wrong time. I was terribly busy and couldn't focus on it in the way this sort of literature requires. I know the general story and have seen a couple versions of the musical adaptation, Man of La Mancha-the stage version was very good, the movie version very bad. One of these days I'll get back to the book.
I'm unfamiliar with your last but the Goodreads description intrigues me....so onto the very long to read list it goes!
It's always disappointing when you see a book you adore poorly adapted. One of my top five favorite books-The Pillars of the Earth-was turned into one of the worst, most bungled miniseries I've ever seen, I could have wept!
But ever hopeful I think these three would make great TV if properly handled.
The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton by Jane Smiley: In Illinois of the mid-1850’s clever, fiercely independent Lidie (Lydia), only 20 but already considered a spinster by her sisters, marries abolitionist Thomas Newton after a very brief courtship and departs for the wild and wooly Kansas Territory. Upon arrival they find a place on the verge of statehood but with hostilities erupting between the “free-state” abolitionists and Missouri’s pro-slavery factions. As a rough and tumble frontier confronts the pair in “Bleeding Kansas” Lidie becomes immersed in the societal, political, psychological, ethical, and economic conditions that led to the violent conflicts while both trying to find her place in the world and survive the tumult.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley: Time: summer of 1950. Place: the once grand English mansion Buckshaw. 11-year-old Flavia de Luce, lover of everything to do with chemistry and a passion for poison but zero patience for older sisters Ophelia and Daphne who she sees as twits, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird found on the doorstep, a postage stamp pinned to its beak, followed shortly afterward by finding a dying man lying in the cucumber patch. Flavia, both appalled and delighted, turns instant sleuth. Atop her trusty if ramshackle bicycle “Gladys” she starts searching for clues but starts to worry when the trail seems to point in an unwanted direction. First in a series of adventures featuring Flavia, followed by The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag and 8 others, this could be a great comic mystery miniseries.
Mrs. Adams in Winter by Michael O’Brien: In 1797 English born Louisa Johnson married rising politician and future sixth president, the brilliant but difficult, John Quincy Adams and took up life as a diplomat’s wife in far flung locales. In the winter of 1815, Louisa left the Russian city of St. Petersburg with her 7-year-old son Charles to travel via coach to Paris, nearly 2000 miles away across a Europe dangerously torn from the aftermath of Napoleon's defeat and exile. In the 40 days it took her to reach Paris she learns to arrange her own affairs, loses babies to illness and miscarriage and graces the highest courts in Europe as the wife of the American ambassador meeting Russian Czars, Prussian Kings, British Princes and Rhineland Electors. Based on her personal diaries, letters and essays.
I haven't heard of any of the books you picked, but they all sound interesting, especially The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I'm adding it on my reading list immediately.
Delete1984 is bleak but I could see it turned into a tv series. Love Don Quixote (and the musical, "Man of La Mancha which I saw in Toronto with Hal Lindon). It would be a fun series to watch. I don't know your last pick and wouldn't see it if it was on HBO.
ReplyDeleteApparently they are turning my last pick into a movie :(
DeleteAll my friends rave about Where the Crawdads Sing and I really want to read it myself soon. I'm currently reading a book for review that is marketed as being for fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and I'm really enjoying it, so *fingers crossed*
ReplyDeleteI'm yet to read a negative review of Where the Crawdads Sing so I'm sure you'll love it too.
Delete1984 would be amazing, not just because it's such a great book but because I feel like the story is more relevant than ever.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite scary how our society looks more like the Big Brother with each passing day.
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