Film buffs from around the world have united in both triumph and dismay as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 2020 Oscars earlier today. As always, it’s the Best Picture award that gets most people buzzing, and I was happy to see that this year’s list has a bit more of a literary lean to it.
With that in mind, I’ve put together a reading list with a book for every Best Picture nominee at the 2020 Oscars. On this list, you’ll find books that were adapted for the screen (like Jojo Rabbit and Little Women) as well as those which I think capture the feeling of a movie (like Marriage Story or Parasite).
Read on!
Ford v Ferrari (dir. James Mangold)
Read: Go Like Hell by A.J. Baime
Go Like Hell tells the remarkable story of how Henry Ford II, with the help of a young visionary named Lee Iacocca and a former racing champion turned engineer, Carroll Shelby, concocted a scheme to reinvent the Ford company. They would enter the high-stakes world of European car racing, where an adventurous few threw safety and sanity to the wind. They would design, build, and race a car that could beat Ferrari at his own game at the most prestigious and brutal race in the world, something no American car had ever done.
Buy it here
The Irishman (dir. Martin Scorcese)
Read: I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt
‘I heard you paint houses’ are the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank ‘the Irishman’ Sheeran. To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the wall and floors. In the course of nearly five years of recorded interviews Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than twenty-five hits for the Mob, and for his friend Hoffa. Sheeran’s important and fascinating story includes brand new information on other famous murders, and provides rare insight into an infamous chapter in US and Mafia history. This is a page turner that is destined to become a true crime classic.
Buy it here
Jojo Rabbit (dir. Taika Waititi)
Read: Caging Skies by Christine Leunens
This extraordinary novel is seen through the eyes of Johannes, an avid member of the Hitler Youth in the 1940s. After he is severely injured in a raid, he discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl called Elsa behind a false wall in their large house in Vienna. His initial horror turns to interest, then love and obsession. After the disappearance of his parents, Johannes finds he is the only one aware of Elsa’s existence in the house, the only one responsible for her survival. Both manipulating and manipulated, Johannes dreads the end of the war: with it will come the prospect of losing Elsa and their relationship, which ranges through passion and obsession, dependence and indifference, love and hate.
Buy it here
Joker (dir. Todd Philips)
Read: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland
Writer Alan Moore, acclaimed author of V for Vendetta, offers his take on the disturbing relationship between The Dark Knight and The Joker in this special 20th anniversary deluxe edition of one of the most famous Batman stories of all time.
For the first time the Joker’s origin is revealed in this tale of insanity and human perseverance. Looking to prove that any man can be pushed past his breaking point and go mad, the Joker attempts to drive Commissioner Gordon insane. After shooting and permanently paralysing his daughter Barbara (a.k.a. Batgirl), the Joker kidnaps the commissioner and attacks his mind in hopes of breaking the man. But refusing to give up, Gordon maintains his sanity with the help of Batman in an effort to best the madman.
Buy it here
Little Women (dir. Greta Gerwig)
Read: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth – four ‘little women’ enduring hardships and enjoying adventures in Civil War New England The charming story of the March sisters, Little Women has been adored by generations. Readers have rooted for Laurie in his pursuit of Jo’s hand, cried over little Beth’s death, and dreamed of travelling through Europe with old Aunt March and Amy. Future writers have found inspiration in Jo’s devotion to her writing. In this simple, enthralling tale, both parts of which are included here, Louisa May Alcott has created four of American literature’s most beloved women.
Buy it here
Marriage Story (dir. Noah Baumbach)
Read: Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
A blistering satirical novel about marriage, divorce and modern love, by one of the most exciting new voices in American fiction
Finally free from his nightmare of a marriage, Toby Fleishman is ready for a life of Tinder dating and weekend-only parental duties. But as he optimistically looks to a future of few responsibilities, his life turns upside-down as his ex-wife Rachel suddenly disappears. While Toby tries to find out what happened—juggling work, kids and his new, app-assisted sexual popularity—his tidy narrative of a spurned husband is his sole consolation. But if he ever wants to really understand where Rachel went and what really happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider that he might not have seen it all that clearly in the first place…
Buy it here
1917 (dir. Sam Mendes)
Read: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
One by one the boys begin to fall…
In 1914 a room full of German schoolboys, fresh-faced and idealistic, are goaded by their schoolmaster to troop off to the ‘glorious war’. With the fire and patriotism of youth they sign up. What follows is the moving story of a young ‘unknown soldier’ experiencing the horror and disillusionment of life in the trenches.
Buy it here
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (dir. Quentin Tarantino)
Read: The White Album by Joan Didion
First published in 1979, The White Album records indelibly the upheavals and aftermaths of the 1960s. Examining key events, figures, and trends of the era—including Charles Manson, the Black Panthers, Hollywood, and the shopping mall—through the lens of her own spiritual confusion, Joan Didion helped to define mass culture as we now understand it. Written with a commanding sureness of tone and linguistic precision, The White Album is a central text of American reportage and a classic of American autobiography.
Buy it here
Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-ho)
Read: The Plotters by Un-su Kim
A darkly funny noir thriller and a fascinating moral tale about power and corruption in Korean society, filled with betrayals, power struggles and effortlessly smooth assassinations
The important thing is not who pulls the trigger but who’s behind the person who pulls the trigger – the plotters, the masterminds working in the shadows. Raised by Old Raccoon in The Library of Dogs, Reseng has always been surrounded by plots to kill – and by books that no one ever reads. In Seoul’s corrupt underworld, he was destined to be an assassin. Until he breaks the rules. That’s when he meets a trio of young women—a convenience store worker, her wheelchair-bound sister, and a cross-eyed obsessive knitter—with an extraordinary plot of their own.
Buy it here
Which film do you hope wins Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars?
Find out more about the Oscars here.
About the Contributor
Olivia Fricot
Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.
Follow Olivia: Twitter
Comments
No comments