--- description: Some of the biggest prestige films of the 2016 award season are based on books title: 15 Books for Your Oscar Season Reading List image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 15 Books for Your Oscar Season Reading List by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 25, 2015 2:45 PM CUT by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 25, 2015 2:45 PM CUT Hollywood loves a sure thing. So for many filmmakers, adapting an already successful book is a recipe for big-screen success. The 2016 award season, already in full swing, is no exception; some of the year’s most anticipated and celebrated movies got their start as novels, biographies and histories. Here, a list of books that have served as fodder. . ### _The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge_  Picador Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu won [four Oscars](http://time.com/3717860/oscars-2015-winners-list/ "undefined") for last year’s expansive _Birdman_, so it’s no surprise his next project is similarly ambitious. The director’s notoriously [expensive](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/10/leonardo-dicaprio-revenant-budget "undefined") adaptation of the Michael Punke [novel](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1250101190/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a frontiersman whose company leaves him for dead after a bear mauling—but he survives, and tracks down his deserters to seek revenge. Published: 2002 In theaters: Dec. 25 (limited), Jan. 8 (wide) ### _Room_  Little, Brown and Company Critics wondered how a movie could capture the voice of Emma Donoghue’s [novel](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0316098329/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"), narrated by a young boy who has spent his life locked inside a room with his kidnapped mother, yet most have been impressed by Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay’s skillful handling. Published: 2010 In theaters: Oct. 16 (limited), Nov. 25 (wide) ### _The Price of Salt_, or _Carol_  Dover Publications The movie version (just called _Carol_) of Patricia Highsmith’s [lesbian love story](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0486800296/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Published: 1952 In theaters: Nov. 20 ### _Brooklyn_  Scribner Saoirse Ronan has earned [critical](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/movies/review-resettling-the-meaning-of-home-in-brooklyn-with-saoirse-ronan.html "undefined") [raves](http://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/sundance-film-review-saoirse-ronan-in-brooklyn-1201419559/ "undefined") as the moody Eilis Lacey in the adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s [novel](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1439138311/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") about life as an Irish immigrant in 1950s New York. Published: 2009 In theaters now ### _The Danish Girl_  Penguin Eddie Redmayne, the British actor who won last year’s [Best Actor](http://time.com/3716096/oscars-2015-best-actor/ "undefined") trophy for _The Theory of Everything_, stars in the adaptation of David Ebershoff’s [novel](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140298487/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") based on the true story of transgender Lili Elbe, one of the first people known to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Published: 2000 In theaters: Nov. 27 ### _Steve Jobs_  Simon & Schuster Michael Fassbender takes on the tech visionary in this biopic based on the [biography](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1451648537/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") by former TIME managing editor Walter Isaacson. Published: 2011 In theaters now ### _In the Heart of the Sea_  Penguin Books Nathaniel Philbrick’s National Book Award-winning [story](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0141001828/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") of the whaleship _Essex—_whose sinking inspired _Moby Dick_—gets the silver screen treatment in an adaptation starring Chris Hemsworth, Brendan Gleeson and Cillian Murphy. Published: 2000 In theaters: Dec. 11 ### _The Martian_  Crown Ridley Scott directs Matt Damon in Andy Weir’s [story](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0553418025/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") of an astronaut left behind on Mars who struggles to find a way to survive. Published: 2011 In theaters now ### _To Reach the Clouds_  North Point Press Philippe Petit’s [memoir](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZM3J8WG/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") of his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers is the starting point for _The Walk_, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Published: 2002 In theaters now ### _The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine_  W.W. Norton & Company Michael Lewis’s [anatomy of the financial crash](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393338827/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined")—and profiles of the people who saw it coming—gets the Hollywood treatment with Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt. Published: 2010 In theaters: Dec. 11 (limited), Dec. 23 (wide) ### _Beasts of No Nation_  Harper Perennial Uzodinma Iweala’s [novel](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060798688/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") about a young African boy recruited as a guerrilla warrior has caused a sensation as Netflix’s first original feature film, which debuted online and in theaters. Published: 2005 On Netflix now ### _Trumbo_  Grand Central Publishing Bryan Cranston stars as the blacklisted _Spartacus_ screenwriter in an adaptation of Bruce Cook’s [biography](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1455564982/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"). Published: 1977 In theaters now ### _Me and Earl and the Dying Girl_  Harry N. Abrams Jesse Andrews’ simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming [YA novel](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1419720139/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") about a teenage cancer patient became a Sundance favorite starring Olivia Cooke and Thomas Mann. Published: 2012 On DVD and Blu-ray now ### _Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself_  Broadway Books The David Foster Wallace biopic _The End of the Tour_, starring Jason Segel, took much of its dialogue from journalist David Lipsky’s interviews with the _Infinite Jest_ novelist, which were published in [book form](http://www.amazon.com/dp/030759243X/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") after Wallace’s death. Published: 2010 On DVD and Blu-ray now ### _Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil’s Deal_  PublicAffairs Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill’s [biography](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1610395530/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") of the Boston crime boss, which covers his fights with competitors and his strange alliance with the FBI, is fodder for a shapeshifting Johnny Depp. Published: 2000 In theaters now ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4111686/oscar-movies-books/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4111686/oscar-movies-books/"},"headline":"15 Books for Your Oscar Season Reading List","datePublished":"2015-11-25T14:45:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:58.012Z","description":"Many of the season's most celebrated films are based on novels and non-fiction books","url":"https://time.com/4111686/oscar-movies-books/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4111686/oscar-movies-books/","name":"15 Books for Your Oscar Season Reading List"}}]}] ```