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Page to Screen

March 12:

Isabel, based on the life of author Isabel Allende. HBO Max. No reviews | Trailer

The One, based on the book by John Marrs. Netflix. Reviews | Trailer

March 13: 

A House on Fire, based on Bitter Harvest by Ann Rule. Lifetime. No reviews | Trailer

March 16:

SAS: Red Notice, based on the book by Andy McNab. VOD. Reviews | Trailer

March 18: 

Zack Snyder's Justice League, which has associated titles. HBO Max. No reviews | Trailer

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews Her Here by Amanda Dennis (Bellevue Literary; LJ starred review): "Dennis excels at delving into the psyche of these women, exploring their traumas and constructing wholly engrossing worlds." Also, Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the Twenty-First Century by Josh Rogin (HMH): "While some readers may come away from this book awakened to the perils presented by Xi Jinping’s China, they will be left without a deep historical perspective on what might lie ahead." Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent by Harriet A. Washington (Columbia Global Reports): "Taken in isolation, each of these examples is deeply disturbing. In aggregate, they lay bare systemic failures that effectively rob vulnerable individuals of their agency and expose them to potential harm." Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters by Andrew Morton (Grand Central: Hachette): "Morton’s narrative arc has the inescapable feeling of rehash." The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson (S. & S.): "Isaacson lays everything out with his usual lucid prose; it’s brisk and compelling and even funny throughout." Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made by Vaclav Smil (Oxford): "An air of tragedy hangs over this book. Into what are we transitioning, and is it really that grand?" The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee (One World: Random House; LJ starred review): "I don’t know of another book that weaves together the many strands of our racialized policy, politics and culture this elegantly and clearly." You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War by Elizabeth Becker (PublicAffairs: Hachette; LJ starred review): "...with a depth of research and an abundance of grace [she] gives fresh insight into the background and achievements of three extraordinary war correspondents — and the price they paid for the intensity of their work."

The NYT reviews Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans by Michaeleen Doucleff (Avid Reader: S. & S.): "...full of smart ideas that I immediately wanted to force on my own kids." Also, Sex with Strangers: Stories by Michael Lowenthal (Univ. of Wisconsin): "Nothing feels strained, and the stories slow down and speed up until their climaxes arrive with a weirdly deadening ambivalence." Terror to the Wicked: America's First Trial by Jury That Ended a War and Helped to Form a Nation by Tobey Pearl (Pantheon: Random House): "For such supposition to be persuasive readers have to be confident in the author’s deep knowledge of the times and culture, but there are too many factual inaccuracies and jumblings of chronology to provide that confidence in this case." 

Book Marks’ "Best Reviewed Books of the Week."

Briefly Noted

The NYT recommends 8 recent releases.

BookPage lists "Five underrated costume dramas for romance lovers."

Tor.com rounds up horror and genre-bending books out this month.

CrimeReads looks at the best psychological thrillers of March.

Actors Nicole Maines and Camrus Johnson of Supergirl and Batwoman, respectively, will write stories about the characters they play as part of the anthology comic DC Pride. It's due out in June. Entertainment Weekly has details.

Meanwhile, at DC Black Label, Batman writer James Tynion IV Sets is working on the 12-issue limited horror comic series The Nice House on the Lake, which launches in June. The Hollywood Reporter has a first look.

Tor.com has an excerpt of Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejidé, which is out next week (Akashic).

The L.A. Times interviews Joshua Mohr, Model Citizen: A Memoir (MCD: Macmillan).

The Rumpus speaks with jamie hood about how to be a good girl (Grieveland).

Julia Sweig talks with the NYT about Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight (Random House).

Karin Slaughter discusses False Witness (William Morrow: HarperCollins) with Bustle.

Rebecca Morgan Frank, Oh You Robot Saints! (Carnegie Mellon), recommends books "that go beyond the trope of sad orphan" at Electric Lit.

Yaa Gyasi shares "Books That Made Me" at The Guardian.

Entertainment Weekly's "What's in a Page" column features Rufi Thorpe, The Knockout Queen (Knopf: Random House).

The Shelf Awareness "Reading with…" column features Zak Salih, Let's Get Back to the Party (Algonquin: Workman).

Naomi Klein discusses How to Change Everything: The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other (Atheneum Books for Young Readers: S. & S.) with Kirkus.

Shondaland interviews Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred (Bold Type: Hachette).

Book Riot has a brief history of the "word of the year."

Reading can make people happy, but Smithsonian Magazine looks into what, really, are "its psychological benefits." 

Lit Hub outlines "Why we need more depictions of Twenty-Something Black Girls Just Figuring Shit Out."

"We have chosen not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness," Amazon wrote in response to inquiry by Republican senators. TheWall Street Journal reports.

Maryland's legislature passed a law that will require publishers that offer licensing of ebooks to the public to also offer licenses to public libraries. Publishers Weekly looks at how this might create ripple effects.

Historian and memoirist Otto Dov Kulka has died. The NYT has an obituary.

Authors on Air

Toni Collette will direct the feature adaptation of Writers & Lovers by Lily King. Also, City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab will get a series adaptation. Variety has details.

Dakota Fanning will star in the Showtime series Ripley based on the Tom Ripley novels by Patricia Highsmith. The Hollywood Reporter has more.

Taffy Brodesser-Akner will write the limited series adaptation of her novel Fleishman Is in Trouble for FX. A feature adaptation of the YA novel Mice by Gordon Reece is in the works at Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films and Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories. David M. Booher, co-creator and writer of the graphic novel Canto, write the upcoming animated feature adaptation and will executive produce it with co-creator and series illustrator Drew Zucker. Deadline has the news. 

Shankar Vedantam discusses Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain (W. W. Norton; LJ starred review) on NPR's Morning Edition. 

Talib Kweli, Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story (MCD: Macmillan) is on the Slate Talks podcast.

The Quarantine Tapes podcast talks with Samantha Rose Hill, whose biography Hannah Arendt (Reaktion: Univ. of Chicago) is out June 10.

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