If we Oscarologists are correct and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is the front-runner to win best picture, you need to bone up on your F. Scott Fitzgerald before David Fincher's flick comes out in December.

You can find the short story for free online if you know about Google Books and, if you don't know about it, then shame on you. It's where Google presents most of the world's great literature at no cost. To read "Benjamin Button," CLICK HERE and scroll down to Page 279. The story continues to Page 322.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was originally published in the May 27, 1922, edition of Collier's magazine and, later that year, was bundled into Fitzgerald's book of short stories titled "Tales From the Jazz Age." Fitzgerald wrote of it: "The story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain's to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end. By trying the experiment upon only one man in a perfectly normal world I have scarcely given his idea a fair trial. Several weeks after completing it, I discovered an almost identical plot in Samuel Butler's 'Note-Books.' "

Beware: The story is very different from the screen adaptation written by Eric Roth (Oscar winner, "Forrest Gump"'; nominated for "The Insider" and "Munich"). Read more about that at InContention.com.

Another cautionary note: Fitzgerald's story is a whimsical read, but I don't think it's among his great stories. It's awfully good, yes, and worth your time to read — certainly better than 97% of other short stories you've ever read, but it's just not one of Scott's masterworks, that's all. If you've got time after reading "Button," I recommend that you scroll back in the cyber-book link noted above to Page 210 and read a real, ahem, gem — "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz." The latter doesn't have the stylistic sparkle of "The Great Gatsby" (Scott's masterpiece), but the final plot twists, unlike "Button," are thrilling.