We are leaving behind the Superbowl, not to mention Puxatawny Phil and our New Year’s resolutions, and are headed dead-on for Valentines Day (February 14) and the Oscars (March 2). In celebration of the Oscars and of movies in general, I am going to spend the month of February reading great books that made great movies (at least, according to The Academy). I will start with one that was not quite nominated this year, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. That’s kind of weird, I know, but I picked it way back in 2013 when it was “supposed” to get the nod. Well, it sort of did, but just for Costume and Production Design. (They loved it in Australia, by the way.) I am also going to continue with a book that’s movie only won for Cinematography and Costumes, but I really wanted to read it. That would be Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. Then I will go forward with as many Best Picture winners that I can manage, having merged the Best Pics with my Best Books list. (See Book Reviews tab, if you are confused about what that list might be.)

Here are the options for Great Books that were made into Oscar-winning movies:

• Rebecca, Daphne de Maurier
• Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
• All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
• Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
• The Godfather, Mario Puzo
• Lord of the Rings (and the rest of the trilogy and The Hobbit), J. R. R. Tolkien

Feel free to join me in imbibing in any of these book-movie combos. And see you at the Oscars.