Author Archives: kzmclain

I’ll Have My People Call Your People

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You’ve heard the phrase she knows just enough to be dangerous, haven’t you? If you were to google that phrase, I’m pretty sure my photo would appear. I am the face for the concept of knowing just enough to be dangerous, at least when it comes to technology.

It’s true that I am a blogger. It’s also true that it is well-known in my family that I am a texter. It’s my favorite way to communicate. My daughter-in-law Jll always says that she can count on me answering a text toot sweet. I have a laptop, an iPad, a smart phone, and I can manage to use the necessary remote controls to get onto Netflix and Amazon Video on two different smart televisions. I use Pinterest and Facebook daily. (God help me when Facebook goes away only to be replaced by something cooler. I’m already hearing rumblings that Facebook is destined to go the way of My Space before we know it.)

And that’s it. That’s what I know. When it comes to my blog, someone else created it and showed me how to post copy and photos. So I can post copy and photos. I can’t figure out how to get a plug-in to make recipes handy and printable. I have no clue as to how to make my blog pinnable on Pinterest. Instagram and Twitter are mysteries to me despite the fact that I have accounts for both. There is an easy-peazy way to post the blog on Facebook, but that skill eludes me; therefore, I just copy and paste every day.

A few years ago, I got a notion to start having advertising on my blog. My audience, while loyal and AWESOME, are still relatively few in number. Relative to the Pioneer Woman, for example.  While she likely gets thousands upon thousands of hits each day, I get between 60 and 100. (And I love each and every hit, though I suspect my sisters and brother account for a third of them each day.) So, at the time, it felt premature to begin advertising to the people who are really my friends, but I nevertheless began preparation for that “some day” possibility by having my blog hosted by another entity. Did I figure that out myself? Hell, no. Someone smarter than me told me that in order to have advertising, you have to be hosted off site.

The problem was, well, see above. For all intents and purposes, I am clueless as to the technology of blogs. So I was never able to actually MOVE my blog over to the host. The result is that for the past four or five years, I have been paying a company to host a blog that they didn’t actually host. This year, when I got my bill, I said, “Enough is enough!”

So yesterday morning, I called up Inmotion Hosting and told them, “Enough is enough.”  I spoke to a young man named Aaron. I explained what I wanted to do, but verbalized my fear that somehow, by ending my relationship with them, my blog site would vanish completely.

Much to my chagrin, Aaron, who is probably young enough to date my eldest granddaughter (but better not try), didn’t discount this possibility. He told me what I needed to do to preclude this from happening. He said, “Kristine, blobbity blobbity blobbity blobbity blobbity blobbity blobbity blobbity blobbity blobbity blobbity blobbity blah, and if you do that, you’ll be fine.”

I’m sure you understand that he didn’t actually say blobbity blobbity. But he might as well have, given the extent to which I understood what he was telling me to do. Meanwhile, Bill – who, while not a technical genius, at least might have understood a few of the blobbities – was in the garage underneath his car and unavailable for comment.

“STOP,” I literally raised my voice to Aaron. “You have to understand that I know absolutely nothing about technology. I am a writer, period. I am also old. I am an old writer. I don’t understand one thing that you just told me to do.”

My friends, I tell you again, Aaron was so sweet and polite. I know he was picturing his little elderly great-grandmother with her white hair tied in a bun as he spoke to me.

“Here’s what I’ll do, Kristine,” he said. “I will check right now to see if your blog is hosted by WordPress. If it is, I am confident that it will not go away if we discontinue serving you. In the meantime, I am going to get my tech people to send you a link. You will simply need to click on this link and it will back up your entire blog.”

Here’s my takeaway from that conversation: Despite the fact that he could date my granddaughter (but he better not), he has his tech people. I always wanted to have people. I never had people. I was always the people.

So I now have a link that his people dutifully sent to me. At some point I will get brave enough to actually click on the link. My computer may actually blow up and my blog may go away forever. If Nana’s Whimsies goes away, don’t worry about me. Aaron said I can call him back.

I will keep you posted, at least if I can.

Recipe Cards

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Once in a while when my siblings and I get together, we might have a conversation along the lines of what was your favorite of Mom’s meals or maybe what did you ask for if Mom was going to cook you your birthday dinner.

I think most of the time, my siblings’ answers might depend on the day. I know that would be true for me. When I asked this question for purposes of my blog back in 2013, I said it was Mom’s oven-roasted pork spareribs. While it’s true that I loved that particular meal — served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes — there were actually many of Mom’s meals I liked. Her meat loaf, for example, is a bit different from any recipe I’ve seen, and it’s my very favorite meat loaf.

While my choice might vary depending on my taste buds that day, if you ask my brother David what his favorite recipe was, he will unfailingly say it was her Beef Stroganoff. That’s a recipe that isn’t located in the recipe box that I somehow acquired upon her death…..

…..so when I decide to make it, I have to scramble to find the recipe. The last time I made Mom’s Beef Stroganoff, I asked Bec if she had the recipe, and she did. She didn’t have an actual card in Mom’s handwriting, but she had copied it, using Mom’s exact words. I decided to make it again yesterday, and I was happy to see that I had kept the recipe from the last time Bec had given it to me.

I once asked Bec where Mom got her recipes. After all, she was quite young when her mother died, so it wasn’t likely that they cooked together. Bec told me that she thought that Mom got a lot of her recipes the same way that many 1950s cooks did: from the back of soup cans or vegetable cans or packets of gravy mix and the like. After all, back in the 1950s, home cooks celebrated the fact that processed foods made their cooking lives easier rather than reeling in horror at the notion of using a can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup in a recipe.

Bec’s theory was proven true when we were going through Mom’s recipe box over Thanksgiving vacation and I came across her recipe for dressing. It didn’t come from the back of a can, but it came from an insert that was part of the Butterball turkey she had apparently purchased. The insert was tucked away in the recipe box. By the way, the recipe includes Campbell’s Golden Mushroom Soup. Eeeeeek.

Mom’s Beef Stroganoff recipe is different from most other recipes I’ve seen. It includes tomato juice, and instead of sour cream, it calls for a can of evaporated milk and some lemon juice. Just for fun, I googled “beef stroganoff tomato juice evaporated milk”, not expecting to find anything. But since you can apparently find ANYTHING on the internet, I found the exact recipe on a web site called Recipe Link. That website linked to something referred to as Faith’s Collection, and indicates the source as “Recipe booklet: One wonderful dish makes the meal by Pet Milk Co., 1960. This notation further supports Bec’s theory that Mom got a lot of her recipes from backs of cans. In this case, it was the back of a Pet Evaporated Milk can.

This woman – Faith – apparently has a strong interest in what she refers to as vintage recipe collections. The Beef Stroganoff recipe was part of a box that she purchased from someone on Ebay. The person who sold her the box of recipes had purchased them at an estate sale. She posted this photo of the box that she purchased……

I can’t tell you how cool I think it is that she collects vintage recipes. I would do the same thing, except that I have enough crap of my own to get rid of. Having said that, I will tell you that it makes me sad that almost no one writes out recipe cards any longer. What am I saying? They don’t even teach cursive in school anymore! I love the recipe cards I have from my Mom. But children, I will admit to you that I keep almost all of my recipes these days on Pinterest.

It Might Be the Subway Sandwich

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This winter – for the first time ever – Bill decided to bring his sports car to Arizona. Ship it, actually. It came inside a huge trailer, the last of all of the sports cars to be delivered……

Since its arrival, Bill has spent nearly every single day working on the car. Don’t ask me what he’s doing; I have no idea. I just know he’s been in the garage nearly every day for almost the whole day. Recently, he emerged – pasty white with pupils the size of dimes from being in the dark — and announced it was ready to be driven.

Since that announcement, we took the car out once. Trust me when I tell you that I am not a dream as a driving partner. I clutch the door handle even when I’m in our Hyundai Sonata, so you can imagine how relaxed I was in the Ferrari 308 that up until recently wasn’t drivable.  But I admitted to him that it was kind of  – sort of – a little – fun.

Yesterday, the sky was blue and the weather forecasters predicted temperatures in the low- to mid-80s. Want to take the car out for a drive? Bill asked me. The car, I knew, being the Ferrari. I took one look at the cerulean sky and thought, why not?.

We decided we would go to Saguaro Lake, about 15 miles or so from our house. It is a beautiful drive and the lake is lovely – sparkling like blue glass. But first we would stop at the Subway that is in our neighborhood shopping center and pick up a sandwich to eat at one of the picnic table overlooking the lake.

It really was the perfect place to take the car. The road is well-maintained, and, to my relief, the speed limit is a reasonable 45 mph. Not that he drove at the speed. If you love to drive, would you be able to stay under 45 in this car? Just sayin’….

We arrived at the lake, parked our car, and walked up to a nearby picnic table. I laid out our lunch and we watched the sea birds fly overhead and the boats race by on the lake as we ate…..

I thought about how much my mother and father would have loved eating a picnic lunch in the exact spot where we sat. I reminded Bill that the last time we had taken a picnic lunch to Saguaro Lake, we had also brought Subway sandwiches. That time our car wouldn’t start when got ready to leave, I laughingly reminded Bill. Sucked to be us that day, huh?

We finished our lunch, cleaned up our table, packed up our picnic bag and got into our car. As an aside, let me just tell you that watching two senior citizens get into a car that sits about a half-inch off the ground doesn’t make for a pretty picture. Though the car is the same one that Tom Selleck drove in Magnum P.I……

Magnum P.I. we are not. That’s a fact. But he looks pretty good, doesn’t he?…..

The other thing that differentiated us from Magnum was that our car wouldn’t start. True story: we have taken Subway sandwiches to Saguaro Lake exactly two times, and exactly two times, our car wouldn’t start afterwards.

Could it be the Subway Sandwich Curse?

To my relief, Bill diagnosed the car as being vapor locked (whatever that is), did something to the engine using my bottle of water, and the car started.

We had a wonderful day and an enormously pleasant lunch. But next time I go to Saguaro Lake for a picnic, I’m stopping at Taco Bell.

Saturday Smile: Slow Burn

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Spoiler Alert if you haven’t watched the latest episode of This Is Us.

If you are a fan of the show, you already know, of course, that our favorite dad — Jack Pearson — is dead. You also already know that it was likely that he died in a fire. In the most recent episode we learned that the house fire originated from an old slow cooker given to Jack and Rebecca by neighbors, and that they were warned that the switch was faulty. Nevertheless, Rebecca makes her Super Bowl Chili in the slow cooker. Just before going to bed, Jack turns off the slow cooker — oh, I’m going to stop being politically correct: It was a Crock Pot. However, the switch shorts out and a fire begins. More next week.

That isn’t what amused me this week. It is unlikely that you could use the words amuse and This Is Us in the same sentence since every week, thousands and thousands of people are weeping as they watch the show.

What I found amusing is the fact that the company that makes Crock Pots is having to do damage control because people are actually throwing away their Crock Pots after watching the program. In fact, it’s gotten bad enough that the company is considering a lawsuit against NBC. Defamation of an appliance’s character, I guess. Kroger is having a We Don’t Care If Your House Goes Up In Flames Sale, frantically trying to get rid of them….

Here are my thoughts: People: It’s a television show. And Jack and Rebecca’s Crock Pot was 30 years old and damaged. If yours is 30 years old and you have to jiggle it to get it started, by all means throw it away. Otherwise, go ahead and cook your chili in your Crock Pot on Super Bowl Sunday.

I’m keeping mine. In fact, I’m keeping both of mine. Just sayin’……

Have a great weekend. I’m off to make chili in my Crock Pot.

Friday Book Whimsy: I Found You

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So many books these days purport to be the next great suspense novel, and Lisa Jewell’s I Found You was no exception.  If you like Paula Hawkins or Ruth Ware, then you will like……

Being a fan of suspense novels, I bit. And I’m so very glad I did.

Back in 2015 I read (and reviewed) The House We Grew Up In, and LOVED IT. However, for no particular reason, I never read another book by this author. But the plot of this novel caught my eye, and I gave it a go.

Single mom Alice Lake sees a stranger on the beach in front of her home in the English seaside village of Ridinghouse Bay. It is cold and raining, and though she tries to ignore him for a bit, she finally brings him a raincoat. She learns that he is suffering from memory loss. He doesn’t know who he is, where he’s from, or why he’s sitting on the beach in Ridinghouse Bay; what’s more, he has no identification. Against her better judgement, Alice brings him into her home.

Meanwhile, in London, Lily Monrose – a Ukrainian immigrant – becomes concerned when her husband of a very short time doesn’t come home from work. She is convinced that something is wrong because he has been a devoted and attentive husband. Being new to the country, she is frightened and confused. Initially, the police don’t seem particularly interested in helping her as they presume her husband Carl has just decided to leave her. However, when they finally begin investigating, they learn that there is no existing person with her husband’s name.

It seems obvious to the reader that Carl and the stranger, who Alice begins calling Frank, are one and the same.

But wait. Flash back to 23 years earlier, when teenagers Gray and Kirsty Ross travel with their parents to Ridinghouse Bay for vacation. It isn’t long before they meet charismatic Mark, who takes a liking to Kirsty, but who Gray immediately distrusts. It isn’t long before Kirsty is missing.

How are these storylines connected? I bet you can’t figure it out. At least I certainly couldn’t. There was one part of the book that caught me so off-guard that I feared I would have whiplash! The plot is suspenseful and unpredictable. The characters are flawed, but likeable, especially Alice. I remember thinking the same thing when I read The House We Grew Up In, so it must be the author’s strong point.

I really liked this book, and strongly recommend it for someone who enjoys suspense novels. This time I won’t wait so long to read another book by Lisa Jewell.

Here is a link to the book.

Everything But the Rat Pack

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What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. However, when you’re me, it doesn’t really make any difference. Aside from lots of really good food and a tad more drinking than I’m used to (well, it sort of depends on your definition of tad), not a lot happened that would need to stay there. Between Bill, Bec, and I, only Bill came even close to needing to go to confession after being greeted by several women wearing pasties and wanting him to pay for a photo with them. While Bill was having a meet cute with women in pasties, Bec and I were eating delicious pastries. Not the same thing.

Entering the MGM Grand is like entering Disney World. On steroids. And in order to cheerfully hand over your five bucks for a bottle of water or your one hundred bucks for a steak, you have to prepare yourself in advance that you have entered another universe. A universe where you put a twenty dollar bill in a slot machine and walk away three minutes later, empty-handed.  That’s why everyone sitting at a slot machine has a grim look on his or her face. And on the rare occasion that you hear that sound of a ringing bell indicating someone’s slot machine finally paid off, you see the grim looks get even grimmer. No one’s happy that the person next to them won.

Our best dining experience was dinner on our first night at a restaurant in the MGM Grand called Craft Steak. I really do love me a good old fashioned steak house. I’m not sure you could quite call this old fashioned seeings as the décor was contemporary and the French fries were seasoned with smoked paprika and sherry vinegar, but the food was tremendous. We had an ice-cold martini to open up our palate. Even Bill, a pretty committed beer or wine drinker, had a Jack-and-Coke. Wine, steaks, mashed potatoes, grits, and roasted cauliflower equals a satisfied stomach……

We didn’t just wake up one morning and say, “Let’s go to Las Vegas, Baby.” We had reason to go. A pretty darn good reason, in fact……

Bill and I have been following Jabbawockeez since we first saw them on America’s Got Talent in 2007. Though we are clearly not experts on any sort of urban dance, we both were drawn to the movement and the uniqueness of the group. We have a wee bit of familiarity with dance because our niece (Bec’s daughter Kate, who now goes by Jojo Diggs) is a professional dancer specializing in what I call urban dance. She calls it House, but try as I might, I simply can’t quite wrap my head around what that term means. Here’s a You Tube Video featuring Jojo Diggs that might interest you…..

At any rate, she has become part of the Jabbawockeez dance crew, and she performed with the group on Monday night. The show was AWESOME. If you are heading to Las Vegas, I can’t encourage you enough to watch this show at the MGM Grand in the Jabbawockeez Theater.

The show has won several awards for being the best family entertainment in Las Vegas, and that recognition is well-deserved. We couldn’t have had a better time. It was lively, fun, and the dancing was soooo impressive.

Of course, my niece was the best. I say that without reserve despite the fact that as part of the group’s costume (and their trademark), they are entirely covered from head to toe, making it impossible to tell dancers apart – by design.

I could tell which one was her, however. I used to change her diapers.

The Jabbawockeez show was the icing on the Las Vegas Experience Cake.

Thursday Thoughts: Wednesday Edition

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There’s No Place Like Home
We got home around 8:30 last night, after driving from Las Vegas back to our AZ home. I would love to say it was good to be back in my own bed, but I must admit that the bed at the MGM Grand was about twice as comfortable as my bed here in AZ. But it’s always good to be home.

Talk About Big
The MGM Grand is the largest hotel in the United States with 5,124 rooms. Our two rooms barely made a dent. We would literally walk miles in a day, and never leave the hotel. It’s weird to think that you can spend several days without even going outdoors. Even the MGM lion was massive…..

The Gambler
I vowed I would set aside X amount of money and gamble. I can’t add, so Blackjack was out. I haven’t the foggiest idea how to play either Craps or Roulette. Poker? Whatevah. So slot machines it was. After losing $40 in less than 10 minutes, I decided my gambling days were over. What’s fun about that? And it is quite apparent that no one is having fun because if you look around at the slot machines, there is not a smile to be seen. The only smiles were on people at the bar. As Bill says, they don’t build these fancy hotels because everyone wins lots of money.

What Happens in Vegas
Oh, but Bill smiled a little bit. One day for lunch, as Bec and I dined in style at Emeril’s Fish House, he walked down to White Castle, which was a lengthy hike. When he returned, I asked him how the walk went. He said it felt good to get outside. He added that he saw some interesting people. Really, I said. Tell me more.  He told me a couple of women asked him if he would like to have his picture taken with him. It was an interesting proposal, as they were quite scantily clad. In fact, both wore bikini bottoms. One had only pasties on top and the other simply had her shirt painted on. It was quite chilly, and undoubtedly so were they. He wisely declined the photo.

Room With a View
While our lovely room didn’t overlook the Strip, we had a pretty view nonetheless. I found the Excaliber to be really interesting. It was especially pretty at night…..

Bye Bye Vegas….

More tomorrow….

 

Saturday Smile: Midnight Train to Georgia (or Someplace)

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He’s leavin’
On that midnight train to Georgia
Said he’s goin’ back
To a simpler place in time.
And I’ll be with him
On that midnight train to Georgia.
I’d rather live in his world
Than live without him in mine. – Jim Weatherly, made famous by Gladys Knight

The other day I FaceTimed our granddaughter Kaiya. We talked for a few moments, and then her little brother Cole heard my voice.

“Nana!” he shouted, and grabbed the iPad right out of Kaiya’s hands. He began telling me, well lots of things. He showed me his new toys (specifically a Lalaloopsy doll with the unlikely name of Crumbs), told me about his day at school, and informed me (incorrectly, I later learned) that Mylee hadn’t gone to school that day. As he babbled on and on, he was running around the house with the iPad, making me darnright seasick.

At one point, my screen was white. It was clear I was looking at their ceiling. I heard his mom say, “Cole, you took the iPad from Kaiya to talk to Nana, and now you set it down in the toy train.”

“Yet,” he said (which is how he pronounces yes). “I’m giving Nana a train ride.”

 
I knew just how Gladys Knight felt.
Have a great weekend.

Friday Book Whimsy: Goodread’s Books to Screen

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Below is a post from the wonderful reading website Goodreads that I found interesting. It contains the name of books that will be shown on television, steaming, or the big screen in 2018. The list includes some of my favorite books, including Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple; and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. And, of course, I have every intention of recording The Alienist by Caleb Carr when it begins showing on TNT on January 22.

From Goodreads…..

Book lovers are about to see a ton of their favorite novels come to theaters and televisions in 2018. And some of the biggest stars will be in on the adaptation action, from Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling starring in A Wrinkle in Time, to Steven Spielberg directing Ready Player One.

This is also your chance to re-read Fahrenheit 451 before it comes to HBO or The Haunting of Hill House before everyone binges the Netflix series. Or catch up on newer beloved novels including Where’d You Go Bernadette, Annihilation and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda before they become films. We’ve included the release dates (where available), and for the television shows we’ve added the network or platform. The book covers will link you to more information about the adaptations.

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (Amazon, January 12) 
by Philip K. Dick
The science fiction series is based on Philip K. Dick’s short stories. Dick’s work has already inspired Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, The Man in the High Castle, among others. The series stars Bryan Cranston, Steve Buscemi, Anna Paquin, and Terrence Howard.

 

The Leisure Seeker (January 19) 
by Michael Zadoorian
An elderly couple seeking one last big adventure embarks on a road trip in the faithful old RV they call “The Leisure Seeker.” The film stars Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland, and Kirsty Mitchell.

 

12 Strong [Originally published as Horse Soldiers] (January 19) 
by Doug Stanton
The true story of a Special Forces team that secretly entered Afghanistan after 9/11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. The movie stars Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, and William Fichtner.

 

Forever My Girl (January 19) 
by Heidi McLaughlin
In this romance, a famous musician returns home to the love he left behind a decade earlier. The movie stars Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe, and John Benjamin Hickey.

 

The Alienist (January 22 on TNT) 
by Caleb Carr
In this historical thriller set in 1896 New York City, a crime reporter teams up with a psychologist to investigate a serial killer. The TV series stars Daniel Brühl, Dakota Fanning, and Luke Evans.

 

Maze Runner: The Death Cure (January 26) 
by James Dashner
Young hero Thomas embarks on a mission to find a cure for a deadly disease known as the “Flare.” This third movie in the series (based on the third book) stars Rosa Salazar, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Dylan O’Brien.

 

Altered Carbon (Netflix, February 2) 
by Richard K. Morgan
Morgan’s cyberpunk tale is set in a 24th-century world where consciousnesses can be downloaded into new bodies. The Netflix series stars Antonio Marziale, Chris Conner, and Hiro Kanagawa.

 

Want to Read
Fifty Shades Freed (February 8) 
by E.L. James
Book three of the steamy Fifty Shades trilogy is the source material for the third movie. It sees Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson reprising their roles as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele.

 

by Beatrix Potter
The adaptation of this Beatrix Potter classic, about a rebellious rabbit’s plan to gain entry to a coveted vegetable garden, will be coming to the big screen. It features the voices of Daisy Ridley and Margot Robbie as well as Domhnall Gleeson as Mr. McGregor.

 

Annihilation (February 23) 
by Jeff VanderMeer
In this riveting science fiction tale, a biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition. The film stars Natalie Portman, Oscar Issac, Gina Rodriguez, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

 

The War with Grandpa (February 23) 
by Robert Kimmel Smith
Upset that he has to share the room he loves with his grandfather, Peter declares war in an attempt to get it back. The movie stars Robert De Niro, Jane Seymour, and Uma Thurman.

 

Every Day (February 23) 
by David Levithan
Every morning, “A” wakes up as a different person in a different body. Then, one day, “A” occupies the body of Rhiannon’s boyfriend, and “A” falls hard. The movie stars Justice Smith, Maria Bello, and Angourie Rice.

 

The Looming Tower (Hulu, February 28) 
by Lawrence Wright
This new series is based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning book that traces the rising threat of Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the late 1990s. The series stars Jeff Daniels, Sullivan Jones, and Kelly P. Williams.

 

by Jason Matthews
A ballerina is recruited into a Russian intelligence service. Her first mission, targeting a CIA agent, threatens to unravel the security of both nations. The movie stars Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton.

 

A Wrinkle in Time (March 9) 
by Madeleine L’Engle
Meg’s father is experimenting with a fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappears. Meg, her brother, and her friend must travel through the universe to find him. This Ava DuVernay film stars Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Pine.

 

Love, Simon [Based on Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda] (March 16) 
by Becky Albertalli
Simon’s love story is complicated: No one knows he’s gay, and he doesn’t know who the anonymous classmate is he’s fallen for online. The film stars Nick Robinson, Katherine Langford, and Jennifer Garner.

 

Ready Player One (March 30) 
by Ernest Cline
In the dismal reality of 2044, the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS has died and posthumously released a video in which he challenges all players to solve his game—and win his fortune. This Steven Spielberg-directed movie stars Olivia Cooke, Hannah John-Kamen, and Ben Mendelsohn.

 

Howards End (Starz, April) 
by E.M. Forster
E.M. Forster’s classic novel is coming to the Starz network as a four-episode series which has already aired on BBC One in the UK. It stars Hayley Atwell, Philippa Coulthard, Matthew Macfadyen and Tracey Ullman.

 

You Were Never Really Here (April 6) 
by Jonathan Ames
When a high-ranking politician hires an ex-FBI agent to save his teenage daughter from a Manhattan brothel, our hero uncovers a web of corruption that even he may not be able to unravel. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov, and Alessandro Nivola.

 

Where’d You Go, Bernadette (May 11) 
by Maria Semple
When Bernadette disappears from her upscale Seattle life, it’s up to 15-year-old Bee to track her down. Directed by Richard Linklater, this movie stars Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig, and Judy Greer.

 

Sharp Objects (HBO, summer) 
by Gillian Flynn
Flynn is known for novels with shocking twists à la Gone Girl and Dark Places. This HBO adaptation focuses on Flynn’s debut novel and stars Amy Adams, April Brinson, and Violet Brinson.

 

Crazy Rich Asians (August 17) 
by Kevin Kwan
An Asian American woman travels with her boyfriend to Singapore to find herself immersed in the world of über-rich Asians preparing for the wedding of the year. The film stars Constance Wu, Michelle Yeoh, and Henry Golding.

 

The Meg (August 10) 
by Steve Alten
Here’s one for those of you scared of the ocean: A gigantic and prehistoric shark terrorizes Ruby Rose, Robert Taylor, and Jason Statham.

 

The Little Stranger (August 31) 
by Sarah Waters
In this creepy historical thriller, a country doctor visits a patient in a crumbling mansion where the inhabitants are haunted by the past. The film stars Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, and Will Poulter.

 

The Darkest Minds (September 14) 
by Alexandra Bracken
After a disease kills 98 percent of America’s children, the survivors develop superpowers and are sent to internment camps. The film stars Gwendoline Christie, Mandy Moore, and Amandla Stenberg.

 

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (September 21) 
by John Bellairs
An orphan goes to live with his uncle and discovers that both his uncle and his next-door neighbor are witches on a strange quest. The film stars Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, and Colleen Camp.

 

Boy Erased (September 28) 
by Garrard Conley
In this memoir, the son of a baptist preacher is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program. The film stars Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, and Joel Edgerton.

 

The Girl in the Spider’s Web (October 19) 
by David Lagercrantz
Computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist find themselves caught in a web of spies, cybercriminals, and corrupt government officials. The movie stars Claire Foy, Cameron Britton, and Sylvia Hoeks.

 

The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix, October 31) 
by Shirley Jackson
This horror drama series is a modern reimagining of Shirley Jackson’s classic 1959 novel. The series stars Van Marten, Selena Anduze, and Katie Carpenter.

 

Beautiful Boy (November) 
by David Sheff
This memoir of meth addiction and recovery is told through the eyes of a father who watches his son as he struggles to break away from the drug. The movie stars Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, and Maura Tierney.

 

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (November) 
by John Callahan
A young man is paralyzed after a car accident and turns to drawing as a form of therapy. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, and Rooney Mara.

 

Mary Poppins Returns (December 25) 
by P.L. Travers
The magical nanny Mary Poppins returns in this sequel to the classic film, based on the popular children’s series of books. The film stars Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep and Colin Firth.

 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (TBD) 
by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
A writer bonds with the residents of Guernsey Island in the aftermath of World War II. The film stars Matthew Goode, Lily James, and Jessica Brown Findlay.

 

Fahrenheit 451 (HBO, TBD) 
by Ray Bradbury
HBO is adapting Ray Bradbury’s classic dystopian novel about “firemen” who spend their time burning books. The movie stars Sofia Boutella, Michael Shannon, and Michael B. Jordan.

 

We the Animals (TBD) 
by Justin Torres
Three brothers tear their way through childhood and push against the volatile love of their parents. The movie stars Raúl Castillo, Sheila Vand, and Evan Rosado.

 

Bel Canto (TBD) 
by Ann Patchett
A famous opera singer performing for a wealthy industrialist and her audience become hostages. The film stars Julianne Moore, Christopher Lambert, and Ken Watanabe.

 

Snowpiercer ( TNT, TBD) 
by Jacques Lob
Seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland, the surviving people live on a gigantic moving train that circles the globe. Jennifer Connelly is set to star opposite Daveed Diggs.

 

Castle Rock (Hulu, TBD) 
by Stephen King
This ten-episode series is based on the stories of Stephen King, with J.J. Abrams serving as executive producer. It stars Melanie Lynskey, Mickey Gilmore, and Scott Glenn.