Books Made into Oscar-Nominated Films

Before they were nominated for Academy Awards, these stories were books. Which do you prefer, the book or the movie?

Updated March 17, 2025
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Twelve years a slave
Northup, Solomon 1808-1863?
Paper Book
The official movie tie-in edition to the winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita Nyong'o, and directed by Steve McQueen   New York Times bestseller "I could not believe that I...

306.362 N819 2013

Little women : an annotated edition
Alcott, Louisa May
Paper Book
Little Women has delighted and instructed readers for generations. For many, it is a favorite book first encountered in childhood or adolescence. Championed by Gertrude Stein, Simone de Beauvoir, Theodore Roosevelt, and J. K. Rowling, it is however much more than the "girls' book" intended...

813.4 AL19L 2013

A long way home
Brierley, Saroo.
Paper Book
First it was a media sensation. Then it became the New York Times bestseller and #1 international bestseller A Long Way Home. Now it's Lion, the major motion picture starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, and Rooney Mara--nominated for six Academy Awards! This is the...

362.734 B766 2014

Nomadland : surviving America in the twenty-first century
Bruder, Jessica
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller From the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon's CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social...

331.398 Bruder 2017

Black Panther. Book 1A nation under our feet
Coates, Ta-Nehisi
Paper Book
MacArthur Genius and National Book Award-winner T- Nehisi Coates (Between the World and Me) takes the helm, confronting T'Challa with a dramatic upheaval in Wakanda. When a superhuman terrorist group that calls itself The People sparks a violent uprising, the land famed for its incredible technology...
The collected stories of Colette
Colette
Paper Book
The Collected Stories of Colette beings together in one volume for the first time in any language the comprehensive collection of short stories by the novelist known worldwide as Colette, and now acknowledged, with Proust, as the most original French narrative writer of the first half of...
Room : a novel
Donoghue, Emma
Paper Book
The award-winning bestseller that became one of the most talked about and memorable novels of the decade, Room is "utterly gripping...a heart-stopping novel" (San Francisco Chronicle).   Held captive for years in a small shed, a woman and her...
Erasure : a novel
Everett, Percival
Paper Book
Percival Everett's blistering satire about race and publishing, now adapted for the screen as AMERICAN FICTION, directed by Cord Jefferson and starring Jeffrey Wright and Tracee Ellis Ross Thelonious "Monk" Ellison's writing career has bottomed out: his latest manuscript has...
The curious case of Benjamin Button
Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott) 1896-1940
Paper Book
From one of the great voices in the history of American literature, a witty and fantastical satire about aging, and the inspiration for the 2008 blockbuster film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known today for his novels, but during his...
Extremely loud & incredibly close
Foer, Jonathan Safran 1977-
Paper Book
Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history. What he discovers is solace in that most human quality,...
Underwater wild : my octopus teacher's extraordinary world
Foster, Craig (Filmmaker)
Paper Book
From the creators of the Academy Award-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher, an immersive journey into the underwater world that inspired it--and holds transformative lessons for us all Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck regularly dive together in the awe...

577.78 Foster 2021

Killers of the Flower Moon : the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI
Grann, David
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, "one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."--New York...

970.3 Osage Grann 2017

Travelling to infinity : my life with Stephen
Hawking, Jane
Paper Book
Professor Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous and remarkable scientists of our age and the author of the scientific bestseller A Brief History of Time, which has sold more than 25 million copies. In this compelling memoir, his first wife, Jane Hawking, relates the inside story of their...

530.092 H313yh 2014

Seabiscuit : an American legend
Hillenbrand, Laura.
Paper Book
A deluxe illustrated edition of one of the most beloved books of our time, with nearly 150 historic photographs personally selected by the author The spellbinding true story of how three men and a great racehorse captivated a nation, Laura Hillenbrand’sSeabiscuit: An American...

798.4 H557 2003

Alan Turing the enigma
Hodges, Andrew
Audiobook
Listed as one of the essential 50 books of all time in The Guardian It's only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation...

510.92 T846yh 2014

Les miserables
Hugo, Victor 1802-1885
Paper Book
Victor Hugo's tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case...
Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race
Lee Shetterly, Margot.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller -WINNER OF ANISFIELD-WOLF AWARD FOR NONFICTION -WINNER BLACK CAUCUS OF AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BEST NONFICTION BOOK -WINNER NAACP IMAGE AWARD BEST NONFICTION BOOK -WINNER NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING...

510.92 L516 2016

The big short inside the doomsday machine
Lewis, Michael (Michael M.)
Paper Book
When the U.S. stock market crash became public knowledge in the fall of 2008, it was already old news. The real crash, the silent crash, had taken place over the previous year in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn't shine and the SEC doesn't bother to tread: bond and real estate derivative...

330.973 L587

The blind side : evolution of a game
Lewis, Michael (Michael M.)
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times Bestseller "Lewis has such a gift for storytelling...he writes as lucidly for sports fans as for those who read him for other reasons." --Janet Maslin, New York Times When we first meet him, Michael Oher is one of thirteen children by...
Moneyball [the art of winning an unfair game]
Lewis, Michael (Michael M.)
Audiobook
Moneyball is a quest for something as elusive as the Holy Grail, something that money apparently can't buy: the secret of success in baseball. The logical places to look would be the giant offices of major league teams and the dugouts. But the real jackpot is a cache of numbers collected over...

796.357 Lewis 2003

The King's speech
Logue, Mark.
Paper Book
It's the eve of World War II, and King Edward VIII has abdicated the throne of England to marry the woman he loves. Never has the nation needed a leader more. But the new monarch, George VI--father of today's Queen Elizabeth II--is painfully shy and cursed with a terrible stammer. How can he inspire...

941.084 L829yL 2010

Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the west : a novel
Maguire, Gregory.
Paper Book
This is the book that started it all! The basis for the smash hit Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Gregory Maguire's breathtaking New York Times bestseller Wicked views the land of Oz, its inhabitants, its Wizard, and the Emerald City, through a darker and greener (not rosier) lens....
Life of pi
Martel, Yann.
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE The international bestseller and modern classic of adventure, survival, and the power of storytelling is now an award-winning play.  "A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction."--Los Angeles Times Book...
Atonement
McEwan, Ian.
Paper Book
On a summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives and her precocious imagination bring about a crime that will change all...
War horse
Morpurgo, Michael.
Paper Book
A new paperback with a gorgeous cover from the upcoming movie! In 1914, Joey, a beautiful bay-red foal with a distinctive cross on his nose, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges toward the enemy, witnessing the...
A beautiful mind : a biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, 1994
Nasar, Sylvia.
Paper Book
True grit
Portis, Charles.
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestseller "An epic and a legend." --Washington Post "Quite simply, an American masterpiece." --Boston Globe "Charles Portis had a wonderful talent--original, quirky, exciting." --Larry...
The revenant : a novel of revenge
Punke, Michael
Paper Book
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A thrilling tale of betrayal and revenge set against the nineteenth-century American frontier, Michael Punke's The Revenant is the astonishing story of real-life trapper and frontiersman Hugh...
The silver linings playbook
Quick, Matthew
Paper Book
'The Silver Linings Playbook' is the riotous and poignant story of how one man regains his memory and comes to terms with the magnitude of his wife's betrayal.
All quiet on the western front : the illustrated edition
Remarque, Erich Maria 1898-1970
Paper Book
"Little, Brown and Company first published Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, arguably the greatest war novel of all time, in 1929. Subsequently, the book has been translated into 45 languages and has sold more than 50 million copies. Though a fictional account, it is a timeless...
Precious
Sapphire 1950-
Paper Book
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE Includes a Reading Group Guide Precious Jones, an illiterate sixteen-year-old, has up until now been invisible to the father who rapes her and the mother who batters her and to the authorities who dismiss her as just one more of Harlem's...
The reader
Schlink, Bernhard.
Paper Book
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is...
Black Klansman : race, hate, and the undercover investigation of a lifetime
Stallworth, Ron
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times Bestseller! The extraordinary true story and basis for the Academy Award winning film BlacKkKlansman, written and directed by Spike Lee, produced by Jordan Peele, and starring John David Washington and Adam Driver. When detective...

322.42 Stallworth 2018

The help
Stockett, Kathryn.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film--a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't--nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. Aibileen is a...
Women talking : a novel
Toews, Miriam
Paper Book
The basis of the Oscar-winning film from writer/director Sarah Polley, starring Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, with Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand. INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "This amazing, sad, shocking, but touching novel, based on a real-life...
The fellowship of the ring : being the first part of The lord of the rings
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Paper Book
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first volume in J.R.R. Tolkien's epic high fantasy adventure, The Lord of the Rings. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. In ancient times the Rings...
The return of the king
Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel) 1892-1973
Paper Book
The third volume in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic epic fantasy, The Lord of the Rings. This edition of The Return Of The King includes the complete appendices and index for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring...
The two towers : being the second part of The Lord of the rings
Tolkien, J. R. R., (John Ronald Reuel) 1892-1973
Paper Book
Continue your journey through Middle-earth... The inspiration for the original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The Two Towers is the second part of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic adventure The Lord of the Rings. One Ring to rule them...
Brooklyn : A Novel
Tóibín, Colm
Paper Book
From the award-winning author of The Master, a hauntingly compelling novel--by far Tóibín's most accessible book--set in Brooklyn and Ireland in the early 1950s about a young woman torn between her family in Ireland and the american who wins her heart. Eilis Lacey has come...
The nickel boys : a novel
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. * "One of the most gifted novelists in...
Winter's bone : a novel
Woodrell, Daniel.
Paper Book
Daniel Woodrell's modern classic is an unforgettable tale of desperation and courage that inspired the award-winning film starring Jennifer Lawrence.   Ree Dolly's father has skipped bail on charges that he ran a crystal meth lab, and the Dollys will lose...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.