Books & Screens | June 2026

Books and Screen
Written By Gray Maher
 

What to watch, read and listen to in Summer of 2026!

There has been a lot of watching, listening AND reading here lately.

My last one of these was in a very long time ago. I’m talking about things you may not have seen here. There’s bound to be something in here for you - my tastes span lots of genres. There’s a lot here, so grab a cup of coffee.

And I’m sharing Instagram favorites (the uplifting & beautiful) and some of my Spotify playlists too.

Click on Images for links…

*Note - these links will take you to Amazon. I am working on a connection to Bookshop.org , a site that donates to bricks and mortar stores. In the future, I will have links that you can use to go there to buy!

You can always buy locally as well. 😉

Reading…

 
 

This is a few years old, but a good one. She has a newer one out (vampires and such), but I liked this one better. She does a wonderful job with her characters.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. This plays out across centuries and continents, until 300 years later, she stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore that remembers her…

 
 

This is also a few years old, but it was so good and it won a Pulitzer Prize.

Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, and he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. And thus begins the dangerous journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive promise of the Free States and beyond. We all know this quintessential American story.

But we have NEVER heard it from Jim’s point of view. This is brilliantly done and give you a very different perspective of Mark Twain’s classic.

 
 

This was so good, I flew through it. Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which the director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country. It is a riveting, wrenching, but uplifting story that reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets.

 
 

I loved this story of women in 15th century China. Lisa See imagines the life story of Tan Yunxian, an uncommon female physician who devoted her life to caring for women... Despite the inordinate limits placed on women, the author allows their strengths to dominate their stories. It is a wonderful story of female friendship.

 
 

I love this quick read series of the Thursday Murder Club, that the Netflix show is based on. This is the latest paperback out in the series (there is a hardback just out too). These amateur-detective retirees tackle all sorts of crime in the English countryside. The characters are funny and filled with personality. The author develops their personal stories really well, woven throughout these fun who-dunits.

And you truly have no idea who the perp is until the very end.

 
 

This book was very special to me as it deals with child loss in a beautiful way. Virginia Evans shows how one woman changes at a point when change had seemed impossible. It was such a pleasure to read, I finished it in 2 days. It is told one letter at a time, by the prickly Sybil Van Antwerp. The detailed connections between each character are brilliantly mapped through the correspondence.

There is a reason it was last years’ bestseller. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.

 
 

This beautiful story is about three characters living along two great rivers, all connected by a single drop of water. It starts in the ancient city of Nineveh, in Mesopotamia. Then we follow Arthur in 1840’s London on the Thames, Narin in 2014 in Turkey traveling to the Tigris, and Zaleekah in 2018 in London, on the Thames. Read their stories. Beautiful.

 
 

Loved this one. If you haven’t seen the movie - read the book! It’s great. A lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this thriller full of suspense, humor and interesting science. Oh yeah, and a friendly alien as well. From the author of The Martian.

 
 

If you only read one book from this post - this is the one. What happens when we truly see one another? This is the story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen. A stranger comes to town and begins to do nice things for others. An unforgettable novel about the power of generosity, connection, and kindness. Read it if you haven’t.

 
 

Just finished this last week. I have to space out the WWII books. There are so so many and I get them jumbled up if I read one after another. This was very good and had a different spin. It follows the life of a wife in Germany before and during the war, and then what happens to her family afterward. It is also following an American woman whose brother fights in Europe and comes home to mental health issues. These two women are thrown together in an unlikely scenario after the war is over. Very good story.

 
 

I read this one in one day! (On vacay.) It is a great tale about a brilliant young woman in 1920’s Shanghai. She rises to fame basesd on her incredible talent, and enters the perilous world of jewelry. A story of the power of love and friendship.

Watching…

Click on the images for links to shows…

*Some of these are a year or so old - I am not enthralled with what’s new right now, but these - I loved!

 
 

Loved this one. Sweet and funny. A disillusioned Englishman who goes to work in a school in a divided Argentina in 1976, finds his life transformed when he rescues an orphaned penguin from the beach. On Netflix.

 
 

I thought this was really good. It aired last fall. It is a psychological thriller starring Robin Wright and Olivia Cooke (from Game of Thrones). A mother’s perfet life unravels when her son brings home a grilfriend who changes everything. She is convinced that the girlfriend is hiding something. Is she a manipulative social climber or is the mom just paranoid? Depends on how you look at it… On Amazon Prime.

 
 

This is from the crew that brought you The Office. You have to watch an episode or two to get into it. Hilarious characters and plot line. A documentary crew searching for a new subject, finds a dying Midwestern newspaper and its publisher's efforts to revive it using volunteer reporters. On Hulu.

 
 

This is really very good. About an ambitious reporter and a notoriously difficult star newsreader (anchor) in the 1980’s cutthroat world of network TV. The retro look of the set, costumes and hair/makeup is great. There are two seasons. On AMC+ with Amazon Prime.

 
 

This was fascinating. It’s the true story of the French heiress to the L’Oreal fortune, who was exploited by a plethora of people. How did a feud between the world's richest woman and her daughter develop into a major scandal? This documentary series takes an in-depth look at the whole story. In two parts on Netflix.

 
 
 

This is a list of documentaries about well-known musicians and actors, etc. that I thought were all well done. Maybe I am biased, as I am a huge fan of most of them.

  • Billy Joel | And So It Goes - on HBO Max

  • Steve! martin - on Apple TV

  • Victoria Beckham - on Netflix

  • being eddie - on Netflix

  • Marty Life is Short - on Netflix

 
 

This is so good. I laughed out loud more than once. In a world overtaken by a mysterious wave of forced happiness, Carol Sturka, one of the immune few, must uncover what's really going on - and save humanity from its artificial bliss. I’m pretty sure there’s another season coming. On Apple TV.

 
 

I was obsessed with this one. (Tom Hiddleston - such a cutie.) The first season was 10 years ago - so this was a long time coming. Very good and worth the wait. And watch season one if you haven’t. On Amazon Prime.

 
 

Such a great little flick. Starring the always wonderful Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley from Hamnet. When people in Littlehampton--including conservative local, Edith--begin receiving letters full of hilarious profanities, the rowdy, Irish migrant, Rose, is charged with the crime. Suspecting that something is amiss, the town's women investigate. On Hulu or Amazon Prime.

 
 

I was not excited for this season, after last season. It was dark and depressing to me. All these characters just making bad choices, one after the other. And after about 3 episodes into this season, it seemed like I wasn’t going to finish it. But it turned itself around and I ended up liking it very much. On Apple TV.

 
 

An interesting thriller with Emma Thopmson. A woman, travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realizes that she is the young girl's only hope. On HBO Max.

 
 

I’m watching this now and I think it’s good! A divorced mom gets caught up in a perilous web of blackmail, murder, and youth soccer. My favorite character is the female detective - she cracks me up. On Apple TV.

 
 

OK has anybody else seen this? I almost stopped watching it 5 times. But the acting is excellent and something kept me watching. I found myself going back and forth with thoughts about the characters - it swings from hopeful to hopeless and back. The show was entirely improbable and there were just some ridiculous scenes. The ending was so sad. I’m not sure how I feel about it. A ringing endorsement, huh? On Hulu and HBO Max.

DID NOT FINISH…

I had high hopes for the following, but most of them “jumped the shark” about halfway in.

  • Big Mistakes - I was excited for this with Dan Levy, who I love. But did not love this.

  • Widows Bay - starring Matthew Rhys, who I also love….when the corpse from the 1800’s comes back to life, I’m out.

  • Comeback - starring Lisa Kudrow. Her character was so insufferable, I couldn’t keep watching.

  • The Boroughs - starring Geena Davis, Bill Pullman, Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard and Denis O’Hare! You woulda thought it would be great. It coulda been great. It shoulda been great. But when the alien climbed out of the oven, I signed off.

  • Vladimir - starring Rachel Weisz and John Slattery. The protagonist breaks the 4th wall, and is unlikeable as all get out. I just couldn’t with her…

Instagram CURRent Favorite Feeds

listening…

Lastly here are a few of my Spotify playlists that you might like for the summer season. Enjoy!

That’s it for today - thanks for tuning in. Next week we’re talking classic summer style and then we will be traveling to Cape Cod. 😎

 
Gray Maher
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Gadabout | Part 6