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So, you’re reading the newspaper, but are you really a reader?

If you’re trying to broaden your horizons and become a more well-rounded reader, perhaps you should get hooked on a book you can preview on screen. Let’s chat about popular shows/series that started as books; you may be shocked at some of them.

Let’s begin with my current favorite, “Little Fires Everywhere.” The novel by Celeste Ng (sounds like “ing”) was well known when it was published in 2017, but its popularity really took off when Hulu scooped it up and adapted it for the screen in 2020.

Reese Witherspoon had the book as her September 2017 Hello Sunshine Book Club pick where she often chooses titles with a powerful female at the story’s center. She later adapted the book to screen as executive producer, alongside Kerry Washington who co-starred with her in the eight-episode miniseries.

Set in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Witherspoon and Washington star as mothers from different socioeconomic backgrounds fighting to give their children the best version of themselves and their futures, while not letting their pasts overtake them.

Copies of the book are available through your library in print and audiobook, and through Libby as an ebook.

Have you fallen in love with Mel and Jack from “Virgin River” yet?

A nurse practitioner in need of a change, Mel sells everything, takes a job in Virgin River, a remote Northern California town, and realizes she’s in for more than she bargained for.

Jack, a retired Marine, and owner of Jack’s Bar, the only restaurant around, feels his heart and simple life become caught in a tailspin when the unexpected city girl who can’t risk her heart again for love comes into town.

Small town gossip with big town drama, plot twists and chances for love leave us laughing, crying and gasping in surprise, much like the novels that the series is based on.
Season 4 of Virgin River has just been released on Netflix, but you can read ahead in the series by Robyn Carr to find out that spoiler you’re dying to know. Contracts are already in place for Season 5, and filming has begun.

Copies of the books are available through your library in regular and large print, and through Libby as an ebook or audiobook.

Other popular books which have been adapted to screen include the three-book “You” series by Caroline Kepnes, “13 Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, the “Bridgerton” series by Julia Quinn, “Maid” by Stephanie Land, “The Handmaids Tale” by Margaret Atwood, the “Outlander” series by Diana Gabaldon, “The Walking Dead” graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman and, my new favorite, “Sweet Magnolias,” which comes from the series by Sheryl Woods.

All of these books and more are available in many forms through the Stanly County Public Library system, so your only choice to make is what to start next. Happy Binging!

Currently Reading: “The Golden Couple” by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

Children’s Book Highlight: “What To Do If An Elephant Stands On Your Foot” by Michelle Robinson.

Sara Hahn is children and youth services librarian at the Stanly County Public Library.