It's Academy Awards time, that one month each winter when nominations spur film fans to catch the honored movies and debate their merits before the prizes are announced.

But why not give some love to books that inspired some of these movies?

You may want to read one or more of them before you see the films — or skip the movies altogether and just dive into richer, more detailed versions of these stories. Seldom does a film equal or surpass the original material, though a strong case can be made for the 1962 classic "To Kill a Mockingbird," starring Gregory Peck.

This year's glitzy Academy Awards show will be broadcast tonight on ABC. Here's a rundown on some of the books brought to the big screen in 2006.

"The Devil Wears Prada" by Lauren Weisberger; Broadway, $13.95, paperback

Oscar nominations: Meryl Streep for best actress; costume design

Synopsis: Poor Andrea Sachs works for the boss from hell — Miranda Priestly — in the world of a high fashion magazine.

Example of a review: "Andy's mishaps will undoubtedly elicit laughter from readers, and the story's even got a virtuous little moral at its heart. Weisberger has penned a comic novel that manages to rise to the upper echelons of the chick-lit genre."

— Publishers Weekly

"What Was She Thinking? (Notes on a Scandal)" by Zoe Heller; Picador, $14, paperback

Oscar nominations: Judi Dench for best actress; Cate Blanchett for best supporting actress; original score; adapted screenplay

Synopsis: A lonely, older teacher named Barbara Covett tells the story of how she befriends new teacher Sheba Hart, who in turn develops a forbidden relationship with an underage pupil.

Example of a review: "The novel, Heller's second, is Barbara's supposedly objective 'history' of the affair and its eventual discovery, written furtively while she and her friend are holed up in a borrowed house, waiting for Sheba's court date. Barbara has appointed herself Sheba's 'unofficial' guardian,' protecting her from the salivating tabloids. Equally adroit at satire and at psychological suspense, Heller charts the course of a predatory friendship and demonstrates the lengths to which some people go for human company."

— The New Yorker

"The Pursuit of Happyness" by Chris Gardner with Quincy Troupe; Amistad, $14.95, paperback

Oscar nomination: Will Smith for best actor

Synopsis: Gardner's autobiography that includes his struggles with homelessness as he cared for his toddler son and pursued a career as a stockbroker.

Example of a review: " 'The Pursuit of Happyness' is the quintessential rags-to-riches American dream story — amazing and inspirational, but at the same time slightly depressing. Why does society allow people to fall so low in the first place? ... On the other hand, for a select few, the United States really can be the country of sheer limitless wealth, a situation also rather unique in the Western world. It seems this is the kind of place most Americans want to live in, and Gardner's story is the kind they love to hear."

— San Francisco Chronicle

"Little Children" by Tom Perrotta;, St. Martin's Griffin, $13.95

Oscar nominations: Kate Winslet for best actress; Jackie Earle Haley for best supporting actor; adapted screenplay

Synopsis: An illicit affair and a convicted pedophile are just part of a tale following angst, isolation and other behind-closed-door matters in an American suburb.

Example of a review: "(A) thread of moral fatalism may be more disturbing than any of the other really disturbing things in this novel. The precision of Perrotta's assault on domestic hypocrisy is frightening, to be sure. And if good satire can generate a corrective jolt, this may be a deadly shock."

— Christian Science Monitor

"The Children of Men" by P.D. James; Vintage, $13.95, paperback

Oscar nominations: Cinematography; film editing; adapted screenplay

Synopsis: In this science-fiction tale, the year is 2021 and the human race faces extinction.

Example of a review: "In this convincingly detailed world — where kittens are (illegally) christened, sex has lost its allure and the arts have been abandoned — James concretely explores an unthinkable prospect. Readers should persevere through the slow start, for the rewards of this story, including its reminder of the transforming power of hope, are many and lasting."


— Publishers Weekly