You have permission to read TV books
Go ahead and keep the party going
This whole edition came about because I was watching, as I do, a British period drama on PBS called Home Fires, and turns out it was canceled after two seasons… right as a dang Spitfire landed on the doctor’s surgery as he was delivering a baby inside! Well, I had to know what was happening with all my ladies keeping it real in the Women’s Institute on the home front in whatever their village’s name was. I happened to casually do some extensive Googling, and found out that there was a book series written by the screenwriter to wrap it up!
This book was not the best, but my curiosity is satisfied (the baby lived, the doctor eventually didn’t). I do not need to continue with the series.
It got me thinking about other spinoff books I’ve read from TV and movies. Two of these fit this description. One doesn’t really at all, but close enough. You may not be into the same intellectual property as I am, but the point is, go be with your characters for as long as you can. Why not! You can get back to gorgeous literature later.
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🪨 The Rise of Kyoshi
F. C. Yee, 2019
The Universe: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Kyoshi, she of the large feet and the double fans, precedes your boy Aang by two Avatar cycles. And, because she’s so awesome, she gets two books. This is the first.
None of this makes sense to you if you haven’t seen this genius television show, so you can skip this whole part.
If you have had the pleasure, let me urge you to go back in Avatar time and read all about big, awkward, earthbending Kyoshi and her gang of pals. It’s categorized as a YA book, but doesn’t even really read like one. I, a grown adult, found these sharp, insightful and everything you could want from something that hails from such a clever precedent.
Kyoshi herself is intimidated by her predecessor, the airbender Yangchen. I’ve got those books too, but I just never want it all to end, so I haven’t read them yet. Is something wrong with me? Do I need a real, adult TV show to love most of all? I’m going to not worry about that right now. Flameo, hotman!
Recommended for: Those who cry when they think about Appa’s lost days.
🧺 Longbourn
Jo Baker, 2013
The Universe: Pride and Prejudice
OK, I’m cheating here, but My Newsletter, My Rules™. This is certainly not an official Jane Austen Estate-sanctioned canonical work, and, obviously, P&P is a book, not a TV show. Well, you know. It’s all things. I’ve been watching the Colin Firth vehicle lately (I forgot how fully 40% of it is him gazing), and I also snuck in the Joe Wright movie the other night. My child had or at least pretended to have real feelings!
Anyway, I normally dislike Jane Austen fanfic (exception, Pride by Ibi Zoboi. See EELS: Tell it to me again). But Longbourn, a story told from the point of view of the Bennets’ maid, Sarah, feels different. Perhaps it’s because it really doesn’t linger too much on the ongoing Jane/Bingley/Elizabeth/Darcy drama. Sarah’s got her own problems. I liked that. It felt real. What’s Elizabeth and Darcy’s blushes to her? Who cares!
Longbourn is not a fun romp through your favorite Austen drawing rooms, in other words. Being a servant back then was not a tea party. It was hard work and chapped hands. Maybe some chilblains. What are chilblains.
Recommended for: Those who, if they had ever learnt, should have been a great proficient.
🤺 Ahsoka
E. K. Johnston, 2016
The Universe: Star Wars
It is going to be so hard for me not to hit you with the thousands of complicated thoughts I have about Star Wars, but I’ll save it for my memoir, Essays No One Asked For. I am contractually obligated to watch every movie, show, and sometimes video game that takes place in the galaxy far, far away. I was genuinely into it in my youth, and now I live with two people who are. As I mentioned above, they gamely sit through various versions of Pride and Prejudice. It’s a give and take.
As such, I agreed to watch all five billion episodes of the animated series Clone Wars, which takes place between Episodes II and III of the movies. I started this quest in a patient trance and ended up fully in love with the character Ahsoka, who I maintain to this day is the only character asking the right questions about wtf is going on with this whole bonkers good/bad, light/dark overly simple system. (Possible exception, everyone in the show Andor. You should watch that.)
Man, do I want to talk more about this and how my darling brave, genius girl has since been defanged entirely. But, guess we’ll have to wait for my memoir, which will of course be posthumous. I fear angry Star Wars fans and am right to do so.
At any rate, I loved Ahsoka so much that I sought out and read this book. It is fantastic, and really reminds me of the Kyoshi series in multiple specific ways. In it, she’s in her rogue years, pretty disillusioned with the lying, hypocritical Jedi, and making her own way in the world. It’s also classified as YA, but certainly doesn’t read as such — it’s more that it’s appropriate for the youths, not that it’s simple.
Recommended for: Those who are tired of the same old Skywalker drama.
And now, a sort of reverse bonus recommendation
🥧 Dickensian — Available on Prime and Britbox, 2015-2016
How about a show that keeps a book party going? Perhaps you’ve heard that I am addicted to British period dramas. If you’ve dabbled in that glorious arena yourself, may I tempt you with Dickensian, which is billed as something like “a bunch of Dickens characters all milling about London, bumping into each other. And you don’t even need to know Dickens to get it!” (Not an exact quote.) I resisted this for ages, because it sounded incredibly dumb.
Not dumb. Not at all. Addicting, funny, and stressful in all the right ways. Honestly, it’s better if you don’t know or remember a ton of Dickens going in, because, as most of the storylines are prequels to some of the books, you’d spoil yourself.
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📚 Susan
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