Discovering where the movie magic began

Posted by Xian Ke, Associate Product Manager, Google Book Search

The latest Oscar award winners will be announced today. What does this have to do with books, you wonder? More than you may think! Just as books provide a source of inspiration for our own lives, so do they inspire screenwriters, directors, and actors to craft award-winning motion pictures.

Let's take a look at the Best Picture Oscar nominees for this year. Can you tell how many of these nominated films are based on books? You might wish to phone a friend, but wait one moment.

With a sleuthing mindset and Google Book Search at your disposal, you can discover and dig into source materials for some of the world's most popular movies. Curious about the magical story of Benjamin Button, I typed in a quick query and found book results for a 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. How intriguing!

As it happens, all of this year's Oscar-nominated films for Best Picture have some roots in books:

• F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" from "Tales of the Jazz Age" was the basis for this year's eponymous film.
• David Frost's account of his landmark television interview of Richard Nixon helped in scripting the Frost/Nixon.
• Randy Shilts' biography on "The Mayor of Castro Street" is an acclaimed account of Harvey Milk's life, brought to the big screen this year in Milk.
• Bernhard Schlink's novel about a woman's devastating secret was adapted to film in The Reader.
• Vikas Swarup's rags-to-riches story, "Q & A" has touched the millions who've seen the film version in Slumdog Millionaire.
  

Now then, the richness of books and the mass appeal of movies raise that time-honored question: which is better, the movie or the book?

Regardless of your answer, it's fun to discover and indulge in the delights of each experience. So go ahead! Enjoy the stories however you wish, and let Google help you with both movie showtimes and serendipitous finds of books that you never knew existed.