9 Hollywood Novels to Get You in the Mood for Oscar Night
We’ve already provided you with ample evidence that Hollywood has a love affair with books, but the affection most definitely goes both ways. Like the rest of us, many authors are understandably fascinated with the allure of the movie business, and all its trappings—from the bright lights cast by giant stars to the skeletons hiding away in dark closets. Since the dawn of the silent era, Hollywood has been the place where dreams are made and lives are destroyed, providing ample fodder for a million novels.
Before you put down your reading on Sunday night to endure enjoy the movie industry’s 86th annual glitzy tribute to itself, why not check out one of the 9 books below, all set amidst the glamour of Tinseltown.
The Day of the Locust, by Nathanael West
The original journey into Hollywood’s dark side, West’s novel chronicles the desperate scrambling of a bunch of hapless losers desperate to make a name for themselves in the movie business. Fascinating despite a host of deeply unlikable characters, it was named by Time magazine as one of the best books of the last century, and adapted into a movie in 1975 to comparable acclaim. If you need another reason to read it, one of its protagonists is also the namesake for one Homer Simpson (which is, admittedly, a little distracting on first read).
The Player, by Michael Tolkin
Tolkin’s wickedly dark satire about a Hollywood producer driven to near-insanity, paranoia, and murder after hearing too many bad movie pitches, is probably better known in the form of Robert Altman’s award-winning film version (for which Tolkin wrote the screenplay), but the book is also worth checking out, if only to appreciate how faithful the adaptation is.
What Makes Sammy Run?, by Budd Schulberg
Schulberg’s rags-to-riches story of a poor Jewish boy determined to make a name for himself as a Hollywood mogul was partly inspired by the life of his father, B.P. Schulberg, who helped turn Clara Bow into a silent movie megastar. It’s not exactly a happy tale—the main character ends the novel on top of the world, but alone, having betrayed everyone he cares about to get there. Studios have spent millions trying to make it into a movie, even though it doesn’t exactly cast the industry in the best light—no less than Steven Spielberg reportedly said he thought it was “anti-Hollywood” and should never be made.
Hollywood, by Charles Bukowski
Bukowski’s roman à clef, a thinly veiled account of his experience writing the screenplay for the semiautobiographical 1987 film Barfly, starring Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke, Hollywood follows the author’s sometime–alter ego Henry Chinaski as he reluctantly pens the screenplay for The Dance of Jim Beam, based on his earlier drunken escapades. Though Bukowski seems disenchanted with movie making, the novel is more a playful satire than an angry screed.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, by Harry Farrell
Farrell’s novel, however good it might be, will never emerge from the shadow of its outrageously campy, uproariously entertaining film adaptation (starring famously warring screen legends Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in performances just this side of outright parody), but he deserves credit for the great premise, about two sisters so obsessed with being movie stars that they spend decades destroying one another’s lives.
Get Shorty, by Elmore Leonard
Leonard transports his expert skills as a crime novelist to Hollywood in this dark comedy about a hoodlum who decides he wants to be a part of the movie business. It’s Leonard, so the cast is loaded with colorful characters and the plot is delightfully convoluted. Naturally, it made for a great movie.
Blonde, by Joyce Carol Oates
No one encapsulates the Hollywood dream—and nightmare—more fully than Marilyn Monroe. Oates’ exhaustive, semi-fictional account of the tragic, tumultuous life and sad decline of the biggest movie star of all time was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Who Plugged Roger Rabbit?, by Gary K. Wolf
Man, these Hollywood books sure love interrogative titles. Wolf’s first novel about Roger Rabbit, a hapless cunicular cartoon actor, spoofed the conventions of crime novels and newspaper comic strips, but after the big screen adaptation turned its attention toward Hollywood and animated films (and became a huge hit), the author retconned his sequel to fit with the movie, though tonally they remain very different. The books never really took off, remaining out of print for years, though ebooks are giving them a second chance to find an audience (a third installment, Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?, [sic] was released last year to little fanfare). As noir pastiches and zany Hollywood send-ups, they’re a lot of fun.
Time on My Hands, by Peter Delacorte
For a reader of my particular sensibilities (movie geek + sci-fi nerd), Delacorte’s woefully underappreciated (and currently out-of-print) sci-fi novel is tastier than an entire bucket of theater popcorn, extra butter (with the added bonus that it didn’t leave me on the floor in a puddle of regret). A struggling writer is visited by an eccentric scientist, who offers him the keys to a real, working time machine. The only stipulation is that he has to use it to go back in time to stop Ronald Reagan from becoming president. The writer decides the best course of action is to head back to 1930s Hollywood and derail Reagan’s political career before it starts—by turning him into a huge movie star. Politics aside, it’s an addictive journey into the golden age of movie-making, richly atmospheric and riddled with good ideas (including the writer’s plan to make a name for himself by copying the scripts of classic films of the era—years before they were actually written).
What’s your favorite Hollywood novel?