Every month, all the major streaming services add a host of newly acquired (or just plain new) shows, movies, and documentaries into their ever-rotating libraries. So what’s a dedicated reader to watch? Well, whatever you want, of course, but the name of this website is Literary Hub, so we sort of have an angle. To that end, here’s a selection of the best (and most enjoyably bad) literary film and TV coming to streaming services this month. Enjoy.

NEW:

Maid (2021)
Stream it on: Netflix, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Stephanie Land’s Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive (2019)

Starring: Margaret Qualley, Andie MacDowell, Billy Burke, Anika Noni Rose

This adaptation of Stephanie Land’s bestselling memoir of working as a housekeeper as a single mother in her 20s is already getting very positive early reviews; by all accounts it is an authentic, and necessary, story about American poverty and generational trauma—but even so, it’s not without hope.

Dopesick (2021)
Stream it on: Hulu, 10/13

Literary bona fides: based on Beth Macy’s Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company That Addicted America (2018)

Starring: Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosario Dawson, Mare Winningham

Another harrowing series based on an important recent nonfiction book about one of America’s epidemics—not poverty, this time, but opioids.

Fever Dream (2021)
Stream it on: Netflix, 10/13

Literary bona fides: based on Samanta Scweblin’s Fever Dream (2017, translation by Megan McDowell)

Starring: Maria Valverde, Dolores Fonzi, German Palacios, Guillermo Pfening, Emilio Vodanovich

I have no idea how anyone could turn Samanta Schweblin’s surrealist hallucination of a novel into a feature film, but that only makes me more curious and excited to see what Peruvian director Claudia Llosa has done with it.

You, Season 3 (2021)
Stream it on: Netflix, beginning 10/15

Literary bona fides: based on the Joe Goldberg books by Caroline Kepnes

Starring: Penn Badgley, Victoria Pedretti, Shalita Grant, Travis Van Winkle, Saffron Burrows, Tati Gabrielle, Dylan Arnold

Otherwise known as Two Murderers and a Baby.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021)
Stream it on: Amazon Prime, 10/15

Literary bona fides: based on Lois Duncan’s I Know What You Did Last Summer (1973)

Starring: Madison Iseman, Bill Heck, Brianne Tju, Ezekiel Goodman, Ashley Moore, Sebastian Amoruso, Fiona Rene, Cassie Beck, and Brooke Bloom

It is my official opinion that we should leave our perfect ’90s teen franchises alone, thank you very much. But after watching the trailer, with its Euphoria vibes and Olivia Rodrigo soundtrack, I’m not saying it would be impossible to get me to watch it.

Succession, Season 3 (2021)
Stream it on: HBO Max, beginning 10/17

Literary bona fides: it’s basically King Lear with a media empire, okay?

Starring: Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Nicholas Braun, Matthew Macfadyen, Alan Ruck, Hiam Abbass

The literary-ness of this show is more tonal and less literal—unless you count Shiv reading Sally Rooney—but let’s be real: this is the television event of the season, and everyone (and every writer) you know will be watching it.

Dune (2021)
Stream it on: HBO Max 10/22

Literary bona fides: based on Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965)

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem

Okay, the cast is stacked and anticipation is high. But will this much-discussed remake of a legendarily bad adaptation of a legendarily good science fiction novel actually work? (You gotta admit, it looks pretty good…)

THROWBACKS:

Goldfinger (1964)
Stream it on: Hulu, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger (1959)

Starring: Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Fröbe, Shirley Eaton

A lot of James Bond movies are coming to Hulu this month—which is probably related to the fact that the latest Bond, No Time to Die, comes out 10/8. You can watch them all if that’s your bag, but I’ll stick to recommending the best of the lot, which is obviously 1964’s Goldfinger (though I wouldn’t throw out cases for From Russia With Love and Dr. No, also available in October).

All The President’s Men (1976)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s All the President’s Men (1974)

Starring: Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman

With Robert Redford (as Bob Woodward( and Dustin Hoffman (as Carl Bernstein) investigating the Watergate scandal, the movie is about as iconic as the book. Follow the money.

Less Than Zero (1987)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Bret Easton Ellis’s Less Than Zero (1985)

Starring: Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, Robert Downey Jr., James Spader

It’s not exactly a faithful adaptation—among other things, it was heavily sanitized by 20th Century Fox—but it’s an engaging cultural artifact in its own right.

The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall, Saul Rubinek, Morgan Freeman

How could a movie with a cast this good, based on a novel this good, be this . . . absurdly bad? You’ll have to watch and find out. If you’re into that kind of thing, I mean.

Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate (1989)

Starring: Lumi Cavazos, Marco Leonardi, Regina Torné, Mario Iván Martinez

After its release, this very sensual Mexican film became the highest-grossing foreign-language film ever released in the United States. Do not watch without snacks at hand—you’re going to get hungry.

Fight Club (1999)
Stream it on: Amazon Prime, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club (1996)

Starring: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter

If nothing else, this is sure to be an interesting rewatch in the year of our lord 2021.

The Cider House Rules (1999)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on John Irving’s The Cider House Rules (1985)

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, Paul Rudd, Michael Caine, Jane Alexander, Kathy Baker, Kieran Culkin, Heavy D, Kate Nelligan, Erykah Badu

In case you’d like to how Michael Caine got an Oscar for saying goodnight to orphans—and remind yourself that Paul Rudd is a vampire.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Stream it on: Hulu, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Brian Aldiss’s short story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” (1969)

Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor, Brendan Gleeson, William Hurt

But of course: the tear-jerker Spielberg flick about a fake boy who wants to be a real boy, his robot teddy bear, and his new friend Jude Law as a robot prostitute named Gigolo Joe, on a quixotic quest to discover the true nature of humanity. Spoiler: Pinocchio is not real.

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996)

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones

Yep, the book holds up and so does the movie—not least because it brings us the #1 best Mr. Darcy of all time. THAT’S RIGHT, I SAID IT.

Queen of the Damned (2002)
Stream it on: Hulu, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Anne Rice’s The Queen of the Damned (1988)

Starring: Aaliyah, Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau, Matthew Newton

This is a “stand-alone sequel” to Interview with the Vampire, which I just take to mean that they couldn’t get Brad and Tom back. Luckily, they could get Aaliyah—this would be her second film role, and the last one before her tragic death.

The Hours (2002)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based Michael Cunningham’s The Hours (1998)

Starring: Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, John C. Reilly, Stephen Dillane, Jeff Daniels, Miranda Richardson, Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Eileen Atkins.

Not just an adaptation of a novel, but an adaptation of a novel about a novel—Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Still the best Woolf movie ever made if you ask me (the Academy, of course, agrees).

The Holiday (2006)
Stream it on: Hulu, 10/1

Literary bona fides: I hear you when you say that this is not a literary movie, but on the other hand, Jude Law is a book editor, Rufus Sewell is very realistic as an ex trying to get edits on his manuscript with emotional manipulation, and it includes one of the most iconic book stacks of the 2000s

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Eli Wallach

Best holiday film of all time, do not @ me. Or you know what, go ahead. I stand by it.

Atonement (2007)
Stream it on: Amazon Prime, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Ian McEwan’s Atonement (2001)

Starring: James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, Benedict Cumberbatch, Vanessa Redgrave.

Ah, romance. Sort of. If you can make a romance out of a false-rape-accusation plot, in which the only actual rapist gets to live happily ever after. Which it seems you can. Good twist, though.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: This is a Sherlock Holmes movie.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong

Guy Ritchie will always have a special place in my heart, and this particular Guy Ritchie flick? Sure, it’s ridiculous, more slick surface than substance, but you’d have to be an insufferable snob not to find at least a little joy in it.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on John le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974)

Starring: Gary Oldman, George Smiley, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, David Dencik, Kathy Burke

After all, it’s one of the best literary film adaptations of the decade, and as Book Marks editor Dan Sheehan put it, so well done “that you can almost smell the stale cigarette smoke and flop sweat, feel the scratchy suit fabric and stained shag carpeting.”

Being Flynn (2012)
Stream it on: HBO Max, 10/1

Literary bona fides: based on Nick Flynn’s memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City (2004)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore, Paul Dano

Overall, the movie isn’t amazing—though in my view the worst part is that they changed Nick Flynn’s glorious title to the Hollywoody and boring Being Flynn—but De Niro absolutely shines.

Castle (complete series, 2009-2016)
Stream it on: Hulu, 10/6

Literary bona fides: a crime show about a crime novelist!

Starring: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic

If you have some time on your hands and enjoy yourself some banter, you could do worse than bingeing this TV show about one of our favorite fictional writers, bestselling crime novelist Richard Castle, who, to deal with his writer’s block and also amuse himself, joins forces with an actual homicide detective to solve weird crimes in New York City.