Ninety-five years ago, the first Academy Awards ceremony took place in Hollywood! Vastly different from the awards show we know today, the ceremony only had 12 categories, lasted just 15 minutes, and it was the only Academy Awards to not be broadcast on television or radio. Tickets were $5 (about $90 in 2024), with plenty of fans in attendance with the celebrities.
While we might be out of awards season, brush up on your film knowledge for next year with some movie history books:
And the Oscar goes too…the books behind the movies. Award season kicked off with the Golden Globes on January 7, with book to film adaptations well represented among the nominees and winners! The Oscars take place on March 10, so there’s plenty of time to pick up a book before the awards ceremony. Here’s what books are buzzing this awards season.
Oppenheimer, nominated for thirteen Academy Awards and based on
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
J. Robert Oppenheimer is one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war, and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Presents a true account of the early twentieth-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
American Fiction, nominated for five Academy Awards and based on
Erasure by Percival Everett
Thelonius “Monk” Ellison is an erudite, accomplished but seldom-read author who insists on writing obscure literary papers rather than the so-called “ghetto prose” that would make him a commercial success.
Nyad, nominated for two Academy Awards and based on
Find a Way: The Inspiring Story of One Woman’s Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream by Diana Nyad
On September 2, 2013, at the age of 64, Diana Nyad emerged onto the shores of Key West after completing a 110 mile, 53 hour, record-breaking swim through shark-infested waters from Cuba to Florida
The Zone of Interest, nominated for five Academy Awards and based on
The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis
A fictionalized look at the Holocaust told from the human perspective of four different characters: Paul Doll, commandant of a concentration camp; his wife, Hannah Doll, who is far more aware of what is going on around her than her husband realizes; Angelus ‘Golo’ Thomsen, the privileged nephew of Hitler’s personal secretary who falls for Hannah; and Szmul, a Jewish prisoner who works at the camp and witnesses all of the atrocities that happen around him.
And the Oscar goes too…the books behind the movies. It’s officially Oscar season! As we all know, books make great movies- and the Academy Awards agree. Several book-to-movie adaptations received Oscar nominations this year. The Oscars take place on March 12, so there’s plenty of time to pick up a book before the awards ceremony.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Based on All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Request the book.
The testament of Paul Baumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army of World War I, illuminates the savagery and futility of war.
Nominated for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, International Feature Film, Production Design, Visual Effects, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, and Sound.
Women Talking
Based on Women Talking by Miriam Toews. Request the book.
After learning the men in the community have been drugging and attacking women, eight Mennonite women meet in secret to decide whether they should escape.
Other literary nods are included in animated and short film categories, including Guillermo del Toro’s Pinnochio, Puss in Boots, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, and My Year of Dicks (based on Notes to Boys).
Speaking of awards, stop by the library to enter our Oscar winners contest. Select your predictions for Oscar winners for a chance to win a movie theater gift card.
Read it or Weep 