And the Nominees Are . . .

Nominations were recently announced for the 83^rd Annual Academy Awards to be presented February 27 in Hollywood, California.

Ten films are vying for Best Picture, 5 of which are based on books. This year’s nominees are: The Social Network (The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich), The Black Swan, The King’s Speech (The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi), True Grit (True Grit by Charles Portis), 127 Hours (Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston), Winter’s Bone (Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell), The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, and Toy Story 3. For full list of nominees, related stories and more, visit The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

If you like books that have been made into movies, you might want to peruse the Library's “From Book to Movie” reading guide, available in the Teen and Adult Services Department. You’ll probably recognize titles like A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. But did you also know that the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire was based on Q & A by Vikas Swarup? Or that the current thriller (and Oscar nominee), The Town, is based on Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves?

Teens may want to check out Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Lightening Thief, Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Wendelin Van Draanen's Flipped, Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries, and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.

In 2011, look for films based on The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly, One for the Money by Janet Evanovich, and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.