The Best Literary Adaptations to Stream Over Thanksgiving Break (Or Right Now)

The holidays are a time for food, friends, family, fun . . . and then streaming movies and television shows for hours after you’ve had all of the (alliterative) above and can’t move another muscle to save your life. Perhaps you will even be too stuffed with stuffing to make the very difficult decision of what you should watch. Obviously, you’ll want it to be based on a book (considering that you’re reading this at Literary Hub) but which book? (These, if you are lucky, are the essential questions of the holiday season.) The answer is simple: it depends on the situation. To find out your best bet, please refer to the detailed guide below, organized by streaming service.

Netflix:

If you just got stoned in secret behind the house (or if you only wish you had): Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (based on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson)

If you’re trying to get your family members to look up from their phones: You (based on You by Caroline Kepnes)

If you just want to unplug (and if you find the idea of a hotel that is also Edgar Allan Poe as charming as you should): Altered Carbon (based on Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan)

If you hate all this cheer and food and good nature and you think there must be something evil lurking underneath: Rosemary’s Baby (based on Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin)

If you’re in it for the long haul (or maybe you’ve broken your leg or something): Orange is the New Black (based on Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman)

If you want to ease your beloved little ones into the classics of your own childhood: The Little Prince (based on The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

If you really miss your partner (or your apps): Outlander (based on the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon)

If being at home makes you nostalgic for Harry Potter, but you’re too old for Harry Potter, and yet you still love to be delighted, look, you’re not a monster: The Magicians (based on The Magicians seres by Lev Grossman)

If you’re a true crime junkie: Mindhunter (based on Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John Douglas Mark Olshaker)

If you need to trick your cousins into watching a serious movie, this one has Jennifer Lawrence: Winter’s Bone (based on Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell)

If you’re going to change everything in the new year: Eat Pray Love (based on Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert)

If you just went to see Parasite and now you’re a Bong Joon-ho stan: Snowpiercer (based on Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette)

If you have a short attention span but lots of time to kill: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (based in part on “All Gold Canyon” by Jack London and “The Girl Who Got Rattled” by Stewart Edward White)

If you’re a surrealist with children: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (based on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett)

If you’d like to be a little more grateful for what you have: Room (based on Room by Emma Donoghue)

If you never get tired of the classics: Sherlock (based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you can’t stop imagining what all of your relatives are imagining as you sit around the table and smile politely at one another: American Psycho (based on American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis)

If you’re alone this Thanksgiving: A Single Man (based on A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood)

Hulu:

If you are absolutely not going to feel guilty about being a human anymore, no matter what your mother says: Shrill (based on Shrill by Lindy West)

If you’re concerned about climate change but can’t talk to your family about it: Annihilation (based on Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer)

If your whole family grew up on and bonded over Stephen King novels: Castle Rock (based on the fictional town where much of King’s work is set)

If what you want most is some precocious teens spouting witty repartee: Looking For Alaska (based on Looking For Alaska by John Green)

If you’re a camp-loving feminist and you’re recruiting: Harlots (based on The Covent Garden Ladies by Hallie Rubenhold)

If you’re trying to lure your dad into a group activity: Catch-22 (based on Catch-22 by Joseph Heller)

If you’re tired of feeling anxious and want someone else to do it for you: The Handmaid’s Tale (based on The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood)

If you kind of want to murder the ones you love: Killing Eve (based on the Villanelle novel series by Luke Jennings)

If you’re kind of corny and kind of cool: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (based on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams)

HBO:

If you’re going back to a childhood bedroom filled with comics: Watchmen (based on Watchmen by Alan Moore)

If you cringe at your aunt saying grace (and/or at the original film adaptation): His Dark Materials (based on His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman)

If you’re looking forward to drinking wine with your mom out of those enormous, bowl-like wine glasses: Big Little Lies (based on Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty)

If you’re just looking for a little more meaning in your life: The Leftovers (based on The Leftovers by Tom Perotta)

If your holiday includes dealing with racist relatives, and you need to suit up: BlacKkKlansman (based on Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth)

If the whole extended family has plopped down in front of the television with snacks and wants to have some fun: Crazy Rich Asians (based on Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan)

If you’re engaged in a campaign to change the mind of a family member who has given up sugar: Chocolat (based on Chocolat by Joanne Harris)

If you’re a sullen teen (or a sullen ex-teen): True Blood (based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris)

If you’re a J. K. Rowling completist: The Casual Vacancy (based on The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling)

If you value beauty above all else and still have energy after dinner to read subtitles: My Brilliant Friend (based on My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante)

If you’re just looking to infuse a little joy into your evening: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (based on The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith)

If you want to stop feeling like the grumpiest person in the room: Olive Kitteridge (based on Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout)

If you love the classics (and/or Benedict Cumberbatch): Parade’s End (based on Parade’s End by Ford Maddox Ford)

If you’re officially tired of Sherlock Holmes but can’t quite kick the habit: Miss Sherlock (based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you want to signal to your college-age children that you’re doing fine without them: Mrs. Fletcher (based on Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta)

Amazon Prime:

If you want to be totally absorbed into another world: The Handmaiden (based on Fingersmith by Sarah Waters)

If you want to do a little better than the typical WWII drama your dad always wants to watch: The Man in the High Castle (based on The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick)

If you want to make you misogynistic uncle shut up for once, or at least leave the room: I Love Dick (based on I Love Dick by Chris Kraus)

If you’re part of a family that loves to go its own way: Justified (based on “Fire in the Hole” by Elmore Leonard)

If you need some comic relief after all that turkey: Good Omens (based on Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)