This episode of the Fully-Booked: Literary Podcast kicked off, as always, with what’s on our nightstands. Shirin had her hands on Phantasma, a book that had been hyped all over, but halfway through, she was feeling let down. The Southern Gothic mood is solid, but the story lacks that punch.
The tasks and trials within it are underwhelming, and she doesn’t really care much about the characters. It’s supposed to have demons, ghouls, and Hunger Games-style drama, but right now, it’s all feeling kind of flat.
Meaghan tried to make her feel better and pointed out that hype can do that. Sometimes a book gets treated like it’s the second coming, and when we finally read it, it’s just… fine. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing revolutionary either. Not all weird, sexy, haunted house books with blood dripping from the ceiling are for everyone.
On the upside, Meaghan read Home Fires Burn by Canadian author Anthony Bidulka. It’s the third book in a mystery series starring Mary Bell, a trans private investigator who returns to rural Saskatchewan after years away.
Meaghan loved the local setting and the fact that it wasn’t just another Toronto-centric story. The mystery held up, the character work was sharp, and it made her want to read the first two books in the series. Big points for regional Canadian representation and thoughtful, layered characters.
Note
The following is an editorialized transcript of our weekly literary podcast. If you would like to listen to the podcast, click the play button above orlisten on your favorite platform with the links below.
Adaptations Galore: What’s Coming to Screen (and Fast)
The main theme of this episode was all about book-to-screen adaptations. What’s coming soon, what’s in production, and what we’re dying to see. We decided to trade picks one by one and see who could out-excite the other.
Shirin went first with My Oxford Year, a romance novel about an American woman at Oxford who gets swept up in an English romance. She loves the academia + England combo, so this one’s basically catnip for her. Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest (from Queen Charlotte) are starring, and it drops August 1, just in time for her birthday. Perfect.
Meaghan followed with the upcoming Carrie TV series. It’s being produced by Mike Flanagan, and we are both expecting big things. The hope is that turning it into a series will really let the Carrie-and-mother dynamic breathe and make the emotional breakdowns all the more brutal. Whether it’s set in the 70s or modernized, we don’t care, we’re watching.
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Then came The Long Walk by Stephen King, which has Shrin’s husband buzzing. It’s about boys forced to walk endlessly under dystopian conditions, and Francis Lawrence from the Hunger Games world is directing it. Sounds like an anxiety attack in movie form, which is exactly the vibe it’s going for.
Next up was People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, due January 9 on Netflix. Meaghan has a thing for Henry’s style. Her romances toe the line between heartfelt and funny, and while Meaghan usually likes her romance a bit darker or weirder, she makes an exception here. Shereen, meanwhile, owns three Henry books and has read none of them. We’ve all been there.
Colleen Hoover Chaos, Creepy Thrillers, and Twisted Cruises
Then came the Colleen Hoover dump. Shirin bundled three upcoming adaptations into one shoutout: Regretting You, Reminders of Him, and Verity. The last of which stars Anne Hathaway. Meaghan and Shirin are mostly excited because they love making fun of Hoover’s chaotic plots and characters. Verity, they agree, is actually pretty decent. It veers into thriller territory and avoids some of Hoover’s more problematic tropes. Bring on the drama.
Meaghan had another creepy pick: The Whisper Man by Alex North, featuring Robert De Niro. It’s about a serial killer whose crimes are mimicked years later in a small town. There’s whispering through windows, eerie disappearances, and maybe even supernatural twists. Definitely on her watch list.
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Shirin’s next thrill was The Housemaid, which she’s converted her whole family into reading. It drops on Christmas Day 2025 in theaters and stars Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. She’s planning a full-on family book club around it. And yes, we’ll be going to the theater over the holidays.
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware is also getting adapted, with Keira Knightley set to star. Another thriller on a boat, another possible murder that no one believes actually happened. Meaghan’s all in. She loves Ruth Ware and thinks this one, dropping on Netflix in the fall, will be a great popcorn thriller.
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Subscribe to our weekly newsletterClassics, Hunger Games, and Guillermo’s Return
One adaptation that has us raising eyebrows is Wuthering Heights with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. It’s being directed by Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn), which adds some intrigue. We’re not sure about the casting, but we’re hoping for a bold, stylized approach.
Speaking of big franchises, Sunrise on the Reaping, the new Hunger Games film, is set for release on November 20, 2026. Shirin thought the book was just okay, but still wants to see how it plays out on screen. The movies have been consistently stronger for her.
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The adaptation Meaghan is most pumped for? Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro, coming in December. She’s obsessed with his visual style and monster-love storytelling. We both agree that this needs a theatrical release. If Netflix keeps it streaming-only, it’ll be a crime against cinema. Between Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and the gorgeous design we expect from Guillermo, this could be a showstopper.
Narnia, Dragons, and So Many More
Shirin ended her list with The Magician’s Nephew, the first (chronologically) in the Chronicles of Narnia series, which Greta Gerwig is adapting. It hits theaters November 26 and drops on Netflix Christmas Day. The casting so far includes Daniel Craig and Emma Mackey, and we’re just plain curious how Greta will spin this origin story with no wardrobe in sight.
And finally, we both agreed: even though there’s no release date, trailer, or cast announcement, we’re putting Fourth Wing on the list. It’s happening. Michael B. Jordan’s studio owns the rights, and we’re already imagining which actors will ride which dragons. Shereen joked about dressing her cats up as dragon characters, because obviously she would.
Wrapping It Up: Why We Care (And You Probably Do Too)
In the end, what made this episode fun wasn’t just listing off every adaptation under the sun; it was talking about what these projects mean to us. We all love books. We all get burned by them sometimes. But when a book we adore gets picked up for a screen version, the anticipation is unmatched. And the potential for disappointment? Sky high. We live for it.
We get excited about who’s cast. We argue about whether the setting is true to the book. We dream about what could be, and sometimes we cringe at what we get. But that’s part of the joy. These adaptations connect us to stories in new ways and give us reasons to revisit the books, or finally read the ones we’ve been avoiding.
So here’s to the next three years of adaptation madness. Keep building those watchlists, plan some book-to-movie nights, and maybe even read the book before the movie drops. It just makes everything better. See you next week for one last episode in this month-long adaptation celebration.
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