A tidy little TBR for your summer movie season

We're getting pretty close to summer time reading and movie watching,which can only be made better by combining those two pleasant pastimes in a most delightful way.

So let us take a look at a few of the film adaptations due out over the impending dog days and with most of this list being set for late July/August release, there's plenty of time to catch up on these engaging reads.

First up is The Bookshop, based on Penelope Fitzgerald's cult classic novel. Emily Mortimer stars as Florence Green, an English widow who decides to open up the title establishment in a small Suffolk town in 1959.

Her shop struggles for awhile, with only the reclusive Mr. Brundish(Bill Nighy) as her best customer. However, with the release of a controversial new book, Florence gets more business and attention than she ever expected, along with the wrath of local matron Mrs. Gamart(Patricia Clarkson). I fondly remember reading this book years ago,with it's bittersweet book lover charms and this film promises to be a page turning treat on screen as well:

Next, Glenn Close plays The Wife,based on the 2003 novel by Meg Wolitzer. She is Joan Castleman, married to renowned author Joe Castleman(Jonathan Pryce) who has just won the Nobel Prize.

During their trip to claim the prize, Joan gets some time to reflect upon her relationship with Joe, who she first met while in college and he was already married to someone else. That affair changed the course of her life and now she's wondering if the things that she had to give up for him were worth it.

Oscar buzz is building for Close to get a Best Actress nomination from this film and while summer movies do get lost in the movie awards rush, she may very well make this role that memorable. Should be a very timely movie to watch regardless:

If you're in the mood for some YA sci-fi storytelling, the first book in Alexandra Bracken's The Darkest Minds series will be hitting the big screen this summer.

Our heroine is Ruby(Amandla Stenberg), one of the few American teens who has survived a brutal plague that wiped out a good portion of her generation. However, she and the others who lived have developed super powers,which causes the government to lock them away in internment camps.

Trying to restrain these kids is not as easy as that, with Ruby and several of her fellow prisoners breaking out to start up a rebellion. I have not heard of this particular book series before but the trailer does look promising and while this genre is not as strong as it once was at the movies, this might be fun to check out:

The book based movie that I'm really looking forward to this season is Crazy Rich Asians, the first of Kevin Kwan's trilogy of novels that follows the adventures of several families brought together by an unexpected romance.

When American born Chinese Rachel Chu(Constance Wu) gets the chance to meet the relatives of her serious boyfriend Nick Young(Henry Golding) at a wedding in Singapore, she is surprised to learn that his family is insanely wealthy and that Nick is the heir apparent to their expansive empire.

Rachel cares more about connecting with his family, especially her potential mother-in-law Eleanor(Michelle Yeoh), than Nick's financial expectations. However, plenty of obstacles are thrown in her path by Eleanor and others, hoping to steer Nick into the social lane that has set up for him. Before long, both Nick and Rachel have to decide whether or not to hold onto their love or at least put up a good fight for it.

These books are wonderful romantic comedies with a good dollop of soap opera drama rounding them out and I hope that this movie does well enough to get us those two sequels already written and then some:

Finding good books and movies is tricky at any time of the year but summer can be the worst. Yet, when those entertaining adaptations come your way, simply rejoice in the pop culture glow of discovery. The only downside is debating those inevitable book-to-screen changes but that's much better than arguing over which big movie let you down the most: