A Bookish Guide to the Must-See TV Shows of the Summer

June 26 2018
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Yes, there are a lot of great shows coming to your TV sets this summer, but let’s give credit where credit is due—to the amazing books on which they’re all based! That’s right, the movie theater is not the only place where we get to watch our favorite books reimagined in living color. If you’re watching any of the TV shows below, you might want to follow along with these fantastic books.

Sweetbitter
by Stephanie Danler

This novel-turned-TV show is the perfect boozy accompaniment for a long, hot summer. SWEETBITTER gives a peek into the world of a twentysomething who’s just landed a job at a downtown New York City restaurant with a pricey wine menu. It’s there that she learns important lessons about wine, about love, and about the world.

Season 1 is now streaming on Starz.

Read the full review of SWEETBITTER.

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Sweetbitter
Stephanie Danler

Read with a Glass of Rosé

If you want to experience a wild life vicariously, just sit down with a nice glass of chilled rosé and enjoy SWEETBITTER. Stephanie Danler’s debut gives a peek into the world of a twentysomething who’s just landed a job at a downtown New York City restaurant with a pricey wine menu. It’s there that she learns important lessons about wine, about love, and about the world.

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Dear White People
by Justin Simien, illustrated by Ian O'Phelan

Based on the film Dear White People, Justin Simien’s satire is the ultimate silly-yet-authoritative handbook to help the curious and confused navigate racial microaggressions in their daily lives. Like the film and the book, the Netflix series follows several black college students dealing with the frustrations of attending a PWI (predominantly white institute). In the second season, a brand-new set of microaggressions has cropped up, causing the students to have difficult conversations with their fellow white classmates.

Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

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Dear White People
Justin Simien, illustrated by Ian O'Phelan

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MENTIONED IN:

A Bookish Guide to the Must-See TV Shows of the Summer

By Tolani Osan | June 26, 2018

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Marriage Vacation
by Pauline Brooks

Younger is one of those shows we publishing folk can’t get enough of—revealing secrets about the industry while simultaneously poking fun at it. So, of course, it’s been just as fun to watch Hillary Duff and Sutton Foster bring these characters to life for four addicting seasons. With the fictional (and real-life) tell-all MARRIAGE VACATION set to publish, season five promises to bring even more drama and some saucy secrets.

Season 5 is now airing on TV Land.

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Marriage Vacation
Pauline Brooks

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Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott

Masterpiece Theater is invading our DVRs with an adaptation of yet another classic: Louisa May Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN. This wonderful story of the March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy and their wonderful Marmee is based on Alcott's childhood. This lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.

The mini-series is now airing on BBC.

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Little Women
Louisa May Alcott

The wonderful story of the March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy and their wonderful Marmee and their joys and mishaps they face as young women and as a family. Based on Louise May Alcott's childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.

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Dietland
by Sarai Walker

Part coming-of-age story, part revenge fantasy, this is a bold, original, and funny debut novel that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our weight-loss obsession—from the inside out, and with fists flying. Julianna Margulies and Joy Nash star in the first season of the dramedy, so set your DVRs!

Season 1 is now airing.

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Dietland
Sarai Walker

Part coming-of-age story, part revenge fantasy, this is a bold, original, and funny debut novel that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our weight-loss obsession—from the inside out, and with fists flying.

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Sharp Objects
by Gillian Flynn

Get ready to add another Gillian Flynn adaptation to your summer. Flynn’s first novel, SHARP OBJECTS, follows reporter Camille Preaker, who returns to her hometown to cover two murders but is forced to confront her own demons. A brutal mystery of paranoia, familial abuse, and the secrets we hide within ourselves, the adaptation (starring Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson) will definitely keep us hooked all summer long.

Season 1 premieres on HBO July 8, 2018.

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Sharp Objects
Gillian Flynn

When a reporter returns to her hometown to cover two murders, she does not expect to confront her own demons—or her damaged family. A brutal mystery of paranoia, familial abuse, and the secrets we hide within ourselves, Gillian Flynn’s first novel is a thriller that haunts long after the last page is read.

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Gwendy's Button Box
by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar

No word yet on whether Gwendy will appear in the highly anticipated TV show Castle Rock—in which all the Stephen King novels set in the fictional town come to life—but this chilling novella gives us a glimpse of the creepy Maine town. This story also offers more insight into the mysterious character in a black hat who’s been known to pop up in King’s previous Castle Rock books.

Season 1 premieres on Hulu July 25, 2018.

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Gwendy's Button Box
Stephen King and Richard Chizmar

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The Sinner
by Petra Hammesfahr

On a sunny summer afternoon by the lake, Cora Bender (Jessica Biel) stabs a complete stranger to death. Why? What would cause this quiet, kind young mother to commit such a startling act of violence in front of her family and friends? Last year, we had the chance to watch the mystery unfold in a limited USA series, but this summer, there are more mind-boggling secrets to uncover in a second season.

Season 2 premieres on USA August 1, 2018.

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The Sinner
Petra Hammesfahr

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MENTIONED IN:

A Bookish Guide to the Must-See TV Shows of the Summer

By Tolani Osan | June 26, 2018

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You
by Caroline Kepnes

We never imagined the trailer for You would live up to its wild source material, but somehow it manages to bring shock value and we’re so into it. YOU is a hypnotic tale of obsession, the dangers of social media, and murderous manipulation. When a bookseller encounters a beautiful customer, he tracks her down via her credit card and quickly inserts himself into her life. Penn Badgley stars as the book-lover-turned-stalker.

Season 1 premieres on Lifetime September 9, 2018.

Read the full review of YOU.

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You
Caroline Kepnes

Joe doesn’t like artisanal soda, trust fund kids, Dan Brown, Brooklyn hipsters, or Vice magazine. He does, however, like you, ever since you walked into his East Village bookshop looking like Natalie Portman. Shame that Joe is a cold-blooded killer and adept stalker. In the all-too-rare second-person narrative, YOU takes place inside the obsessed brain of Joe Goldberg, who’ll stop at nothing to make boho-wannabe Guinevere Beck (the “you” of Kepnes’s page-turning novel) his.

Crazy like: The lovesick and the just-plain-sick.

Best crazy moment: The DA VINCI CODE reading marathon.

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