April is Library Month at Braille Institute
The 93rd Academy Awards have been handed out, recognizing the best in cinema from the past year. Like most years, many of the nominated and winning films were based on books and novels.
Almost all the books, which were the source for all the films nominated in prominent Oscar categories based on books, are available in our BARD system.
If you need help accessing BARD, please email bils@brailleinstitute.org or call a Reader Advisor at 1-800-808-2555.
NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE – 2021
Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder (Read by Karen White) – DB086971
A look at the subculture of older Americans who, unable to afford either mortgages or retirement, are traveling the country in RVs, campers, and vans. Particularly examines the life of one woman as she travels between seasonal jobs and reunions with her van-dwelling friends. Non-Fiction.
Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs (Basis for The United States vs. Billie Holiday) by Johann Hari (Read by Patrick Downer) – DB081348
After travel and research, journalist Johann Hari posits three truths about the War on Drugs: first, that drugs are not what we think they are; second, that addiction is not what we think it is; and third, that the drug war’s motives are different from those broadcast. Some violence and some strong language. Non-Fiction.
NOMINATED IN OTHER CATEGORIES – 2021
Emma by Jane Austen (Read by Anne Chodoff) – DB023490
Nominated for Achievement in costume design and Achievement in makeup and hairstyling.
First published in 1816, this novel tells of a restless young woman, living with her widowed father in a small English town. She finds her chief amusement in arranging the lives of her friends, a diversion which leads to complications. Fiction.
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance (Read by Clay Teunis) – DB085796
Nominated for Achievement in makeup and hairstyling and Glenn Close for Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Memoir of growing up in the Ohio Rust Belt in a family culture rooted in Scots-Irish Appalachia. Explores political themes affecting these community cultures through the lens of personal and familial experiences. Discusses what it took to go from nearly failing high school to graduating from Yale Law School. Some strong language. Non-Fiction.
News of the World by Paulette Jiles (Read by Clay Teunis) – DB086668
Nominated for Achievement in Cinematography, Achievement in Original Score, Achievement in Production Design, and Achievement in Sound.
1870. Captain Kidd rides across Texas delivering the news of the day. He is asked to take ten-year-old Johanna Leonberger, recently rescued from a Kiowa tribe, to her family near San Antonio. The captain must deal with Johanna’s inability to reacclimate to white culture. Some violence and some strong language. Historical Fiction.
CLASSIC OSCAR WINNERS
Many of the greatest Oscar-winning films of all-time are based on books and available in our BARD system. Here are a few of the titles available in BARD that went on to become winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northrup & Henry Louis Gates (Read by Bob Moore) – DB077891
Original nineteenth-century memoir by free-born African American Solomon Northup. Details his life in New York, kidnapping in 1841, and the time he spent as a slave on southern plantations until his rescue in 1853. Basis for the 2013 movie. Violence and some strong language. Non-Fiction.
The Godfather by Mario Puzo (Read by Robert O’Keefe) – DB025677
The world and underworld of the Mafia is revealed in this novel of paradoxical terror and benevolence. Violence, strong language, and explicit descriptions of sex. Fiction.
Gone with The Wind by Margaret Mitchell (Read by House Jameson) – DB007069
A romantic Civil War epic in which Scarlet O’Hara, a forceful and ruthless heroine, and Rhett Butler, a war profiteer, play out their tempestuous love affair against the background of the war-torn South. Pulitzer Prize. Fiction.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (Read by Barbara Caruso) – DB048914
Rebecca, the glamorous mistress of a great English estate, died eight months before Maxim de Winter brought a young and frightened second wife to live there. Mystery, intrigue, and violence eventually reveal the circumstances surrounding Rebecca’s death. Fiction.
Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally (Read by Ed Blake) – DB020835
In 1939, Oskar Schindler, a young, wealthy, enterprising German interested in drinking and women, is a less-than-exemplary Catholic. In this “nonfiction novel,” Keneally tells the story of his transformation into a man who, at great personal risk, saves hundreds of Jews from death during World War II. Some strong language. Violence. Non-Fiction
April is Library Month at Braille Institute and we’re sharing recommendations for the best books available in our BARD system throughout the month. Visit Library services for more information and learn how you can get thousands of free audio books if you are not already a patron.
Contact our Reader Advisors at (323) 660-3880 if you have questions about any of the titles featured in this post, or if you are looking for other book recommendations. Or, call: 1(800) 808-2555, Monday – Friday 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (PDT).
