5 books linked to Oscars
If you’re a movie buff, your list of films to watch probably increased dramatically Tuesday after the nominees for the 91st Academy Awards were announced in Beverly Hills.
But if you prefer spending an evening curled up on your couch with a good book and not in a theater with a pricey bucket of popcorn, you shouldn’t feel left out. Many of this year’s nominated films were based on books, so you can join the fun in your own way — and you don’t need to change out of your pajamas.
Here are some of the books that inspired the films that Hollywood is buzzing about this Oscars season. “If Beale Street Could Talk,” James Baldwin
The legendary author’s 1974 novel about a young couple whose relationship is tested after a false rape accusation inspired the critically acclaimed film from “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins. Regina King earned a supporting actress nomination for her role as Sharon Rivers in the movie. “First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong,” James R. Hansen
Ryan Gosling stars as the astronaut in “First Man,” Damien Chazelle’s biopic about Armstrong. The movie, which earned a nomination for sound mixing, was based on Hansen’s popular biography of the Ohio-born Navy veteran and astronaut. “Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger,” Lee Israel
Melissa McCarthy earned a lead actress nomination for her role as Israel, a biographer who started forging letters from literary legends to earn money after she fell on hard times. Israel’s 2008 biography,which was controversial at the time, forms the basis for the Marielle Heller film. “Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime,” Ron Stallworth
Spike Lee’s movie “BlacKkKlansman,” which earned multiple Oscar nods including best picture, director and adapted screenplay, is based on the remarkable memoir from Stallworth, an African American police detective in Colorado who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s with the help of his white partner. “The Wife,” Meg Wolitzer
Glenn Close earned her seventh Oscar nod for Björn Runge’s “The Wife,” which also stars Jonathan Pryce and Christian Slater. It’s based on Meg Wolitzer’s darkly comic 2003 novel about an acclaimed novelist whose spouse decides she wants to pursue her own literary dreams rather than keep playing the role of quiet, supportive wife.