Calling all long-weekend binge-watching warriors! Give your Netflix a break and devour some of our fave TV books instead. From everyone’s favourite high-functioning, sociopathic consulting detective to TV’s most loveable antihero, we’ve got the books to take up the next twelve consecutive hours of your life.
Use the coupon code “VICTORIADAY” to save 30% on all our TV books from May 20 to 31.
1. Wrapped in Plastic: Twin Peaks by Andy Burns
In 1990, avant-garde filmmaker David Lynch (Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Dune, Blue Velvet) and acclaimed television writer Mark Frost (Hill Street Blues) teamed up to create a television show that would redefine what the medium could achieve in a one-hour drama. With Twin Peaks, the duo entranced audiences with the seemingly idyllic town, its quirky characters, and a central mystery—who killed Laura Palmer?
2. Investigating Sherlock: The Unofficial Guide by Nikki Stafford
He’s been depicted as a serious thinker, a master of deduction, a hopeless addict, a bare-knuckle fighter. His companion is a bumbler, a sympathetic equal, someone helpless in the face of his friend’s social inadequacies. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson remain the most-adapted fictional characters of all time. In 2010, when Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman stepped into the roles, they managed to meld many previous incarnations into two glorious performances. Over Sherlock’s first three seasons, the Emmy-winning series has brought new life to stories almost 130 years old and, with its Holmes and Watson for the 21st century, created a worldwide fandom unlike any other.
3. Love You to Death—Season 1 by Crissy Calhoun
Go deep into the heart of Mystic Falls with the first volume in an episode-by-episode series that School Library Journal called “well written and thoroughly detailed.” Love You to Death is the perfect companion to a Vampire Diaries re-watch, featuring insightful explorations of each episode of Season 1, with information on the rich history, supernatural mythology, film references, and character development; chapters on the supernatural lore that inspired the series; and details on the making of the show, the people who put it together, and the audience that keeps it alive. The popularity and acclaim of The Vampire Diaries continues to grow, and Love You to Death feeds the frenzy by engaging the fandom with a companion guide that readers return to again and again.
The Science of TV’s The Big Bang Theory lets all of us in on the punchline by breaking down the show’s scientific conversations. From an explanation of why Sheldon would think 73 is the best number, to an experiment involving the physical stature of Wolowitz women, to an argument refuting Sheldon’s assertion that engineers are the Oompa-Loompas of science, author Dave Zobel maintains a humorous and informative approach and gives readers enough knowledge to make them welcome on Sheldon’s couch.
5. Wanna Cook?: The Complete, Unofficial Companion to Breaking Bad By Ensley F. Guffey and K. Dale Koontz
“I am not in danger . . . I am the danger.” With those words, Breaking Bad’s Walter White solidified himself as TV’s greatest antihero. Wanna Cook? explores the most critically lauded series on television with analyses of the individual episodes and ongoing storylines. From details like stark settings, intricate camerawork, and jarring music to the larger themes, including the roles of violence, place, self-change, legal ethics, and fan reactions, this companion book is perfect for those diehards who have watched the Emmy Award winning series multiple times as well as for new viewers. Wanna Cook? elucidates without spoiling, and illuminates without nit-picking.
6. The Doctors Are In By Graeme Burk and Robert Smith?
From his beginnings as a crotchety, antiheroic scientist in 1963 to his current place in British pop culture as the mad and dangerous monster-fighting saviour of the universe, the titular character of Doctor Who has metamorphosed in his 50 years on television. And yet the questions about him remain the same: Who is he? Why does he act the way he does? What motivates him to fight evil across space and time? The Doctors Are In is a guide to television’s most beloved time traveller from the authors of Who Is The Doctor and Who’s 50. This is a guide to the Doctor himself—who he is in his myriad forms, how he came to be, how he has changed (within the program itself and behind the scenes) . . . and why he’s a hero to millions.
7. Wait For It: The Legendary Story of How I Met Your Mother by Jesse McLean
The record-breaking run of the CBS hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother came to an end, but new fans of the epic romantic comedy are still appearing in droves, thanks to the joy of binge-watching on demand. What better way for old fans and new to reminisce about all the friendships and fun than by looking at the series as a whole in Jesse McLean’s Wait For It. With an entertaining examination of each of the nine seasons of the show, McLean not only looks at the characters and stories, but the making-of stories, the running gags, the lead actors, and the lasting impact of How I Met Your Mother on pop culture thanks to a cult fandom that’s grown to a national obsession.