The Books Behind the 2017 Oscar Nominations…..

This year’s Oscar nominees include several  movies that are based on books.  If you were captivated by the movie, and want to read the book, or if you liked a book that has been made into a movie, check out this list.   It’s always interesting to compare the two!

The Book: A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley.  Five-year-old Saroo, living in rural India, gets separated from his older brother and falls asleep on an empty train parked in the station. Suddenly the train takes off, headed for Calcutta, a city where Saroo can’t speak the language. After living on the street for several weeks he is adopted by a couple from Australia. 25 years later, he uses images on Google Maps to jog his memory and find his way back to his original home.

 The Movie: Lion. Nominated for Best: Picture; Actor in a Supporting Role (Dev Patel); Actress in a Supporting Role (Nicole Kidman);  Adapted Screenplay; Cinematography; and Original Score.  

The Book:  Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. During World War II, the American aeronautics industry hired black female mathematicians to fill a labor shortage.

The Movie:  Hidden Figures.   Nominated for Best Picture; Actress in a supporting role (Octavia Spencer),  and Adapted Screenplay.

 

 

The Book:  A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.  A grumpy man hides a personal loss beneath his short-tempered exterior.  He clashes with new neighbors, a boisterous family whose chattiness leads to unexpected friendship.  This comical and heartwarming book  has been an enormously popular bestseller.

The Movie: A Man Called Ove. Nominated for Best Foreign Film;  Makeup and Hairstyling. In Swedish with English subtitles. *Available  on DVD.

 

 

The Book:  Tony & Susan by Austin Wright. Susan Wright receives a manuscript and a request for feedback from her ex-husband of fifteen years. His novel is called Nocturnal Animals, and it is the violent story of a man whose wife and daughter are murdered.  As she is drawn into the life of the story’s main character, she confronts a devastating parallel darkness from her own past.

The Movie:  Nocturnal Animals. Nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Michael Shannon).

The Book:  Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters by Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.  The autobiography of the pilot who successfully landed a United Airlines plane in the Hudson River and saved all 155 people on board.

The Movie:  Sully.  Nominated for Sound Editing.  The movie has been generally well-received, but has also been criticized for its harsh portrayal of members of the National Transportation Safety Board, who were required to investigate the accident. *Available on DVD.

The Book:  The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.  In this classic collection of stories, the best-known are about Mowgli, an abandoned baby who is raised in the jungle and raised by wolves.

The Movie: The Jungle Book.  Nominated for Visual Effects. This latest version by Disney uses extraordinary computer generated images.  In this case, the movie poster is so pretty that I’m including it and not the book jacket. *Available on DVD.