Tuning in this summer for some page turning TV

With the arrival of summer comes the departure of most regular TV. Whether it's a seasonal break or the last hurrah, not being tied to your favorite shows has the advantage of being one of those pop culture pauses that gives you time to catch up on other things.

Since this is also that time of the year to tackle one or two of those stacks of books you've been meaning to get to, it would be nice to combine some of that reading with a new TV series to watch. Fortunately, I found at least three brand new TV adaptations that should make for good summer time reading as well.

First up is NOS4A2, which debuted on AMC this past Sunday and promises to haunt that prime time slot for awhile here. Based on Joe Hill's novel, Ashleigh Cummings stars as Victoria "Vic" McQueen, a young girl on the verge of graduating high school and trying to decide where she can take her talents as an artist in life.

Much to her surprise, she discovers a strange new talent that allows her to find that which was lost and to travel far beyond her reach via a covered bridge that only appears to Vic.  This new ability of hers attracts the unwanted attentions of Charlie Manx(Zachary Quinto), who also uses supernaturally hidden passage ways to take captured children to his twisted "Christmasland", where he feeds off of their innocence in order to maintain an unnaturally long life.

Recruited by a librarian with a special skill of her own, Vic tries to stop Manx from hunting down more kids, not to mention keep him from taking her out of the running permanently. Having read the book myself along with watching the first episode, I can truly say that this is one terrifying thrill ride that you don't want to miss:

I'm also looking forward to The Rook, set to start on June 30 as part of the Starz line-up. Adapted from the novel by Daniel O'Malley, the story begins with Myfanwy Thomas(Emma Greenwall), who wakes up on a dark street with no memory and surrounded by dead bodies.

Turns out, she had her mind wiped during a mission for the Checquy, a secret agency that she works for which specializes in supernatural people and events best hidden from the general public. Having no idea who is actually a friend or an enemy, Myfanwy has to track down the threat from within on her own.

If  I had to give this book a Hollywood pitch, it would go a little like this: "think Jason Bourne meets Men in Black and X-Men with a touch of Doctor Who". Hopefully, this upcoming series does much better than my attempt to summarize this amazingly creative story and with any luck, we might get a second season based on the second book(which I haven't read yet but really need to):

Arriving much sooner, Netflix is ready to begin their new version of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City on June 7.

Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis will be taking up the roles they played in an earlier adaptation of this iconic trio of novels set in San Francisco dealing with a variety of folks looking to change their lives for the better or just find a place that will accept them for who they are. Among the new cast members are Ellen Page(playing Linney's daughter) and Molly Ringwald in an unnamed yet reoccurring role.

I have to admit that I've heard plenty of good things about Maupin's Tales of the City books but haven't gotten around to them yet. Perhaps this new series might change all of that and there's no doubt that I won't be alone in doing so:

Pairing up a book and a movie is not easy as it sounds-it's more along the lines of finding the perfect wine to complete a fine meal. However, finding a good small screen adaptation can help you ease the guilt of just not being in the mood to read right now, which is something that every reader (myself included) experiences from time to time and nothing to feel bad about. Don't fight it when it hits, just let it ride until that literary lightning strikes you again: