Did you know that six out of the eight films nominated for this year's Oscar for Best Movie were based on books? Only two of the nominees were not book adaptations, including the eventual winner,
Spotlight.
The Revenant by Michael Punke,
The Martian by Andy Weir,
Carol by Patrician Highsmith,
The Big Short by Michael Lewis,
Room by Emma Donoghue and
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín - were all up for honors this year. We've been talking about
The Revenant and
The Martian for some time, and we promise not to do it yet again (but they're great right?), so let's focus on the other four.
Carol
by Patricia Highsmith
W. W. Norton & Company, $14.95
Originally published in 1952 under the title The Price of Salt,
Carol tells the story of Therese, a department store clerk whose life is transformed when she falls in love with Carol Aird, an affluent customer, who is married, with a daughter. They become obsessed with one another and attempt to escape condemnation by running away, embarking on a journey across America. The story is based on a real-life episode in the life of author, Patricia Highsmith, who is not often read nowadays, but whose stories are still full of power and impact. An important and fascinating novel.
Brooklyn
by Colm Tóibín
Scribner Book Company, $15.00
This is the story of Eilis Lacey, who is given the opportunity to escape small-town Ireland in the harsh, deprived years after the Second World War. She leaves her mother and sister behind to undertake the difficult voyage and the challenge of settling alone in a new country. She finds work in a department store and falls in love with Tony. But just as Eilis begins to embrace her new life, shocking news from Ireland forces her return, and she finds herself torn between two worlds. A wonderful book from the ever-reliable Tóibín.
Room
by Emma Donoghue
Little Brown and Company, $16.99
To five-year-old Jack, Room is the world. . . .it's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, Ma shuts him in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer. And how will they cope when they leave?
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
by Michael Lewis
W. W. Norton & Company, $15.95
The Big Short tells the story of four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse before anyone else. When the crash of the U.S. stock market became public knowledge in late 2008, it was already old. The real crash, the silent crash, had taken place over the previous year, in bizarre feeder markets where the SEC doesn't dare, or bother, to tread. Brimming with indignation and dark humor, this is a great read for anyone looking for the story behind the crash.
For further evidence of the book world's domination of the Oscars, consider that nine of the ten actors nominated for the Best Actor and Actress awards were interpreting characters from books, including Leonardo DiCaprio who finally won his first Oscar for Hugh Glass from
The Revenant. Find out more about this year's literary Oscars contenders, in
this article from Publishers Weekly.