The Black Phone & Passing: Binge the best books on screens
Hayley Dennings
Netflix Adapts “Passing”
There’s no better place to start than watching "Passing" on Netflix. This classic story about confronting racial and social hierarchies is now a film. It's a period drama about the dangers and necessities of people who can "pass" as white, stylishly rendered against the backdrop of 1920s Harlem, New York. "Passing" shows us "the insidious ways in which race affects everything," wrote a USA Today reviewer. In that article, actress Ruth Negga reminded us that the act of passing makes people vulnerable, even today: “Safety is always there, haunting every move they make. And it's still the reality for a lot of people." Read Passing by Nella Larsen and watch the trailer for the movie!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trwq3CNCMkUMore Books on TV This Month
If historical isn’t your style, there are lots of new shows and movies adapted from great books—streaming across platforms, from Hulu to Apple TV to Netflix to theaters.The Black Phone (in theaters)
In the short story "The Black Phone," author Joe Hill told a story of terror and redemption, all set during a time of great uncertainty. The story originally appeared in the short story collection, "20th Century Ghosts."Sinister director Scott Derrickson has adapted the story for the big screen, with the movie hitting theaters in early 2022. Derrickson spoke to Empire about how he channeled memories of a traumatic childhood into the script:“It was my attempt to capture the feeling of my own childhood,” he explains. “I grew up in a working-class neighborhood that was quite violent. There was a lot of fighting, bullying, animal violence ... It was just an air of violence that I grew up with.”
Watch the extremely scary trailer for "The Black Phone" below and read the Joe Hill story in 20th Century Ghosts collection on Fable.https://youtu.be/3eGP6im8AZANine Perfect Strangers (Hulu)
If you want to get well, you must surrender yourself to Masha.That is the basic plot of Nine Perfect Strangers. The story follows a group of people at a strange wellness resort where they work on their personal issues. But as their time there lengthens, they begin to suspect the leader of the resort, Masha, has strange plans for them.Read Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty on Fable and then watch the trailer.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvqujH6boEIDune (HBO Max & in theaters)
Dune is a science fiction story that follows the Atreides family, rulers of the ocean planet, that are tasked with relocating to a hostile new desert planet.Read Dune by Frank Herbert on Fable and then watch the trailer for the movie.https://youtu.be/8g18jFHCLXkTruth Be Told (Apple TV)
An addictive psychological thriller about a popular true crime podcast reponsible for the reopening of a murder case that begins to ruin the life of the victim’s daughter.Read Truth Be Told by Kathleen Barber on Fable and watch the trailer for this thriller.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UsZffqGU34After We Fell (in theaters)
The story began two movies ago when Tessa moved to college and her guarded world was opened up by a dark guy named Hardin, who made her question everything she knew about herself. After We Fell is the third book in the series.Read After We Fell by Anna Todd on Fable and then watch the movies.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-x5WLWoZpYYou Season 3 (Netflix)
The story began two seasons ago when a bookstore manager’s crush on an aspiring writer turned sinister as he became increasingly obsessed with her.Read You by Caroline Kepnes on Fable and then watch the show.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srx7fSBwvF4Start your book club on Fable
Once you choose one of these books that are movies, start your own book list or start a book club dedicated to one of these great books. If you didn't find the book you're looking for, Fable has plenty of free books in every genre!
Hayley Dennings