Like every year, 2019 has been chock full of movie adaptations of well-loved books. Some of them have tanked (ahem The Goldfinch), while others look extremely promising (Little Women) or possibly worth a watch (Where Did You Go Bernadette). If you love movies as much as you love books, you’ll want to prepare for the following big 2020 releases.

It won’t be the first time, and probably won’t be the last time, but Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile is getting adapted in 2020. Here we find the eccentric, ingenious Detective Hercule Poirot on an Egyptian vacation. He falls foul of a murder on board a Nile river steamer, followed by two successive murders, and it’s clear they are connected. The movie will star Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Benning as well as Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot. Branagh also played Poirot in 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express.

Equal parts funny and suspenseful, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer has been a contemporary juvenile fiction classic since the first book was released in 2001. It follows a twelve-year-old evil genius who tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold. Naturally, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. Dame Judi Dench will star in the movie adaption of this beloved story, which is anticipated to be released in May.

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Fikry was the hottest psychological fiction book on the market in early 2018. Inspired by Hitchcock’s Rear Window, it follows an agoraphobic recluse languishing in her New York City home, drinking wine and spying on her neighbors. One day she witnesses a terrible crime through her window that exposes her secrets and raises questions about her perceptions of reality. The movie, which is set to be released in May, stars Amy Adams, Julianne Moore and Gary Oldman.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven was released in 2015 at the height of the Young Adult (YA) “sick-lit” craze (think The Fault of Our Stars) and continues to remain popular. It follow two struggling teens who develop an unlikely relationship. Violet, a writer and member of the popular crowd, has withdrawn from her friends and from school activities since her sister died in a car accident nine months earlier. Finch, known to his classmates as "Theodore Freak," is famously impulsive and eccentric. Following their meeting in the school bell tower, Finch makes it his mission to re-engage Violet with the world. Elle Fanning will star in the movie adaptation as Violet, but you’ll also find some famous faces among the supporting cast, including Keegan-Michael Key and Luke Wilson.

A horror-drama movie titled the The Turning is set to be released in January. It is a modern day take on none other than The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. The classic novel, if you aren’t already familiar, unfolds with the arrival of a new governess at a remote country estate. She has been hired by the uncle of two young orphans to take complete charge of the children's lives and upbringing. Her first peaceful weeks are disturbed by the apparition of the ghosts of two evil servants who once served in the house. This book has been adapted several times (the most well-known being the 1974 adaptation starring Lynn Redgrave) but the modern take should make this new one worth watching.

All of the items mentioned here can be borrowed from your branch of the County of Lennox & Addington Libraries or reserved online here.