Some page turning TV to look forward to

With a bit more of winter to come as spring grows near, a good place to look for book based films these days is television.

After all, you don't have to worry about a sudden snowstorm hitting while at home watching a movie, plus the price of snacks would certainly be more budget friendly.

One film that is set to arrive soon on the small screen is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, adapted from the nonfiction book by Rebecca Skloot, which stars Oprah Winfrey as Deborah Lacks, who is shocked to discover that her mother's cancer cells were appropriated for medical research without consent.

Those cells,known as "HeLa" were responsible for numerous breakthroughs in cancer and AIDS treatment yet neither Henrietta or her family were ever made aware of this. With the help of author Skloot(Rose Bryne), Deborah seeks compensation and more importantly, acknowledgment of her mother's unknowing contributions to medical science. HBO will be debuting this remarkable story on April 22, which sounds like a good excuse to celebrate Mother's Day a little earlier this year:

 Another advantage to TV adaptations of books is that the miniseries format works best on that medium to get the full scope of the story.

As she did with three of her other historical fiction works from her Cousin's War series, Philippa Gregory has allowed The White Princess to be turned into another Starz miniseries that follows up The White Queen. Some of the characters introduced in the previous series have been recast here but I have no doubt about the quality of story telling skills from these new actors.

The title princess  is Elizabeth of York(Jodie Comer) who is forced to marry the new King of England, Henry(Jacob Collins-Levy) a young man unswerving in his loyalty to his dementedly devoted mother(Michelle Fairley).

This is a political marriage at best, with one side determined to control Elizabeth but like her infamous mother, she knows her own mind and plays her side of the game with quiet yet steady skill. The series begins on April 16 and will have eight episodes, making those Sunday nights a royal pleasure to behold indeed:

For a full blown flight of fancy, Neil Gaiman's American Gods is planned to be more than just a miniseries. A few new characters and plot twists have been added(with the author's approval) to this version of the modern fantasy classic in order to turn it into a regular series.

Our leading man hasn't changed,however. Shadow Moon(Ricky Whittle) gets an early release from prison due to the death of his beloved wife Laura. Back out in the world, he's offered a job by the mysterious Mr. Wednesday(Ian McShane) as a bodyguard.

Soon enough, Shadow learns that his new boss is a god of old and he,along with a remaining other deities such as Easter(Kristin Chenowith) and Vulcan(Corbin Bernsen)are joining forces to do battle with the new gods born of our modern age like Media(Gillian Anderson) and Technical Boy(Bruce Langley). Fans of this book have been waiting a long time to see this well written wild ride come to cinematic life and on April 30, their wish should be well granted, to say the least:

So, plenty of good books to either reread or catch up on here, making this upcoming spring a good time to enjoy the best of pop culture in the comfort of your own home.

Nothing wrong with going out for a little fresh air and fun, of course but you may want to stay indoors on May 12 as Netflix will be streaming a new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables to be called Anne. Sounds like a good day to call in sick, if you ask me: