And the Bookish Oscar Goes to... 12 Years a Slave

Shelf Awareness

At last night's Academy Awards ceremony, 12 Years a Slave, based on the autobiography by Solomon Northup, was by far the biggest winner in the unofficial book-to-film Oscar category. Directed by Steve McQueen, the movie won for best picture, actress in a supporting role (Lupita Nyong'o) and adapted screenplay (John Ridley).

Other book-related Oscar winners included Frozen, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Snow Queen," which took honors for best animated feature film and original song ("Let It Go"); and The Great Gatsby, adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, which earned Oscars in the costume design and production design categories.

The Great Beauty was named best foreign-language film. Although this isn't a book-to-film adaptation, Film Comment noted that director Paolo Sorrentino's novel Everybody's Right "is everywhere in Sorrentino's world because literature has always been his true calling."

Another winner: Following up on their triumphant Super Bowl commentary, In Other Words, Portland, Ore. (@IOWbooks), the inspiration for Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen's Women & Women First Bookstore on the IFC series Portlandia, live tweeted the Oscars last night (@ifcPortlandia):

"Hugging, cheering, glitter. This is starting to feel like the #SuperBowl all over again. #feministbookstoresayswhat #Oscars #AcademyAwards."

"If #Oscars were hosted in #Portlandia, someone would invent rain gear that exposed cleavage. We would protest it. #feministbookstoresayswhat."