Bookmarking some literary summer TV

With June officially here, the need to escape with summer entertainment is most pressing indeed. Fortunately, there is a way to combine two of the best forms of hot weather relief as this quartet of new TV shows coming up are based on books.

In the case of the Stephen King inspired Castle Rock, set to debut on Hulu in July, several of the horror master's works are referenced in this series set in one of his mythical New England towns. Characters that have appeared in more than one book show up such as retired Sheriff Alan Pangborn(Scott Glenn), who has seen plenty of strangeness before and after his time on the police force.

Newer characters are also on the scene like Henry(Andre Holland), a death row attorney returning to his home town to face some personal demons and his adoptive mother Ruth(Sissy Spacek), whose memories are fading , which could prove fatal. Both Stephen King and J.J. Abrams are on board for this project and it could be quite the staycation spot for streaming this summer:

For a bit of comic book fun outside of the multiplex, Freeform has Marvel's Cloak & Dagger ready to roll this month.

The show is set within the MCU but how much that will connect with the current films is yet to be seen. Our pair of heroes are teens Tandy(Olivia Holt) and Tyrone(Aubrey Joseph), who discover that they possess super powers that match up well together.

Using her ability to sense the hopes of others and fight with light daggers, Tandy is drawn to Tyrone,whose powers are teleportation  and ability to feel the fears of those around him and they both learn of a prior connection that perhaps marked their destiny.

This does sound like fun and if this dynamic duo happen to show up in the next Infinity War movie, you'll certainly have a one-up on the rest of the audience in knowing who they are firsthand:

In the grown-up realm, we have AMC sending us to Dietland in June with a menu of real world satire.

Based on the 2015 novel by Sarai Walker, our heroine is Plum Kettle(Joy Nash), who works for a major fashion magazine and is frustrated with her ghostwriting gig for bitchy editor Kitty Montgomery(Julianna Margulies).

Plum is also tired of trying to fit in with society's notions of what an attractive woman is and winds up being recruited by a radical underground movement who takes their goals deadly seriously.

To say that this story is topical is quite the understatement and it will be interesting to see what the end results will be. Definitely one to keep an eye out for:

Meanwhile, HBO is offering up another female lead miniseries with Sharp Objects, based on Gillian Flynn's first novel(well before Gone Girl). Amy Adams stars as Camille, a reporter recovering from a nervous breakdown who decides to return to her home town in pursuit of a big story.

 Reconnecting with her mother Adora(Patricia Clarkson) and half sister Amma is not the best thing for Camille's emotional healing process but it does allow her a good opportunity to look into the disappearance of two local girls that might have a more personal tie to her own troubles.

I have read this book and while I liked it, I didn't love it(Dark Places, which came after this one, is a stronger book). Nevertheless, with Amy Adams as the headliner and Marti Noxon producing(she's also behind the scenes on Dietland), we might get a truly inventive slice of Southern Gothic to savor here:

Having a bit of bookish TV is a nice two for the price of one deal. While it doesn't mean that you should neglect that growing TBR pile by your bedside, watching a couple of these shows might  make your vacation packing a little lighter perhaps. Granted , they could also lead to getting more books but holding off until fall might be made easier as well: