Celebrate some Oscar love with these movie themed reads

 With the Academy Awards set for March 12th, it’s not too soon to feel that Oscar Night energy embrace the pop culture world.

As a long time fan (the Oscars are my Super Bowl), this year almost feels like a much needed revival as several great films are up for major honors and hopefully some of the joy expressed on that night will come from those who truly deserve to be acclaimed there.

To that end, I thought it would be enhance the movie love mood by highlighting a few fictional stories that showcase the effects of  Hollywood lore on entertainers and fans alike.

First up is While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory, where A list actress Anna Gardiner finds herself getting romantically involved with Ben Stephens, an ad executive who she only meant to have a professional relationship with.

They do start out as business casual but when Anna needs to be privately driven across country due to a family emergency , Ben offers his assistance and that time together brings them much closer than before.

Eventually their romance becomes public yet can Ben only playact the part of a camera ready boyfriend or this role the real deal for both him and Anna off screen?

It’s been awhile such I gave myself the pleasure of diving into a Jasmine Guillory novel and about high time that I did. The Notting Hill vibes of this story make me think that Anna Gardiner will be much like Anna Scott of that film; a talented actress feeling trapped by her public persona yet able to find a worthy life partner and push back at crass commenters all on her own:

Our next feature film book is Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The title leading lady is a renowned actress who is finally telling the story of her life to reporter Monique Grant on the condition that her memoir be published only after her death.

Evelyn‘a tale of climbing the Hollywood ladder is more that just a glitzy recount of an ambitious actress ruthlessly achieving her goals. Instead she relates the real world struggles that a woman in the 1950s had to deal with in such a cutthroat business and the secrets and lies involved in doing so on her own terms.

I’ve heard nothing but great things about this book and plan to read before the Netflix adaptation is released in possibly the near future. 

One interesting factoid that I did learn is that one of inspiration for this novel was the iconic actress Ava Gardner, who planned a tell-all book with a journalist only to be persuaded by several influential people not to go through with it. She did eventually put out such a book but one wonders what the screen goddess did leave out in the final edit:

To round this up, we have Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey, a book that I have enjoyed more than once.

Aspiring screenwriter Annie hopes to become the next Nora Ephron, due to her passion for such rom com classics as Sleepless In Seattle and You’ve Got Mail(favorite movies of her late mother as well). She’s even secretly writing a script based on the unrequited romance between her best friend Chloe and the coffee shop owner that debates Chloe over her choice of music at work.

When a romcom is being filmed in their home town, Annie is lucky to be given an assistant position to the director (an old friend of her eccentric Uncle Dave) but finds the leading man of the movie, TV star Drew Danforth, to be far from a perfect casting choice.

Can Annie realize that the romantic comedy of her dreams is right in front of her or will she resign herself to being on the outside looking in always?

This is a charming story that does have a great sequel (yes, that movie about Chloe does get made!) and even if you’re not a huge Tom Hanks fan, there’s plenty to love and laugh at here:

Books and movies do go well together like a comfort meal such as soup and sandwich which balances the hearty texture of the story with the soothing warmth of cinematic delights.

Combing the two mediums is appetizing for heart and soul, especially if there’s enough popcorn on hand. I’m willing to wait for the Oscar Night magic to begin with the help of one of these good books and maybe a movie marathon or two to keep my strength up: