Good Housekeeping and Kaitlin Menza created a slide show of The Most Popular Book the Year You Were Born. So, I took the books listed from 1930 to 2015 and researched the films, and miniseries, and Television adaptions of these books. The list is the most popular book titles (according to Good Housekeeping and Kaitlin Menza) from 1930 to 2015.
Note 1: there are 9 Books that do not have a screen adaption at the time of writing this. While 12 of these have at least one remake.
On 12/20/2018 a brief synopsis was added.
1930 Cimarron
by Edna Faber [First Published 1929]: Cimarron (1931/1960)
The Cravet
Family moves to Oklahoma during the land rush then proceeds to build a business
empire.
1931 The
Good Earth by Pearl S Buck [First Published in 1931] The Good
Earth (1931)
Dramatized
village life and more specifically, Wang Lung and his family in pre-WWI China
as their fortunes rise and fall. This is the first book in the House of Earth
Trilogy.
1932 The
Fountain by Charles Morgan [1932]: The Fountain (1934)
Set in
Holland during WWI an interned British officer is paroled to a castle under the
control of a German married to his ex. The War, and politics are discussed.
1933 Anthony
Adverse by Hervry Allen [First Published in 1933]: Anthony
Adverse (1936)
Left at a
convent at birth Anthony Adverse seeks a life of adventure, and romance away
from the convent.
1934 Goodbye
Mr. Chips by James Hilton [First Published in1934]: Goodbye Mr.
Chips (1939/1969/1984/2003)
A schoolteacher near his retirement reflects on his life teaching at the Brookfield School a public boarding for boys, his brief marriage that ended in tragedy and his fulfillment in being a teacher.
A schoolteacher near his retirement reflects on his life teaching at the Brookfield School a public boarding for boys, his brief marriage that ended in tragedy and his fulfillment in being a teacher.
1935 Green
Light by Lloyd C. Douglas [First Published in 1934]: Green Light
(1937)
A young surgeon
takes the blame for a blotched surgery resigns and goes to work at a wilderness
research facility. Where he works to find a cure for spotted fever.
1936 Gone
With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell [First Published in 1936]: Gone
With the Wind (1939)
Set in
Atlanta from Pre-Civil War to the Reconstruction era in the south. Scarlet
O’Hara starts as a child in pre-Civil War South and natures to a woman those labors to keep herself out of poverty, win the heart of the man she
loves, while protecting her family home, and the people that are important to her.
1937 Of
Mice and Men by John Steinbeck [First Published in 1937]: Of Mice
and Men (1939/1968/1981/1992)
Two drifters
working the fields during The Great Depression George and Lennie work to
achieve their dream of having their own land. Until an accidental murder kills
the dream they have.
1938 The
Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings [First Published in 1938]: The
Yearling (1946/1994)
A rural
family allows their 12-year-old to adopt a fawn. Problems arise when the fawn
matures into a destructive misbehaving deer.
1939 The
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck [First Published in 1939]: The
Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Set during
the Great Depression in Oklahoma a poor family The Joads are hurt by the Dust
Bowl, so they resolve to go to California with thousands of other Okies as they
seek jobs, land, dignity, and a future.
1940 How
Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn [First Published in 1939] How
Green Was My Valley (1941)
A chronicle
of a Welsh family and the mining community they live in.
1941 For
Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway [First Published in 1940]: For
Whom The Bell Tolls (1943)
A young
American fighting in the Spanish Civil War is attached to a guerilla unit must
blow up a vital bridge in the area.
1942 The
Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel [First Published in 1941]: The
Song of Bernadette (1943)
A Catholic
girl has a vision of the Virgin Mary becomes a nun then a saint.
1943 A
Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith [First Published in 1943] A
Tree Grows In Brooklyn (1945/1974)
The story of
an Irish American family living in Brooklyn, New York in the first two decades
of the 20th Century. As seen
through the eyes of the family's daughter.
1944 Strange
Fruit by Lillian E. Smith [First Published in 1944]
A dark tale
about a secret interracial couple set in a Southern town during the 1920’s.
1945 Forever
Amber by Kathleen Winsor [First Published in 1944] Forever Amber
(1947)
In 17th
Century England a poor girl works her way up from peasant to nobility by
marrying or seducing rich and powerful men. Only to lose the one man she ever
loved.
1946 The Kings
General by Daphne du Maurier [First Published in 1946]
Honor Harris
recounts her life and love from childhood to an injury that keeps her from
marrying the man she loves (The Kings General) and stays true to him throughout her
life.
1947 Miracle
of the Bells by Russell Janney [First Published in 1946]: The
Miracle of The Bells (1948)
An actress’s
final request after making her first and final film is to be buried in her hometown. Her press agent asks a local priest to stop a studio executive from
reshooting the film with another actress.
1948 Anne
Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank [First Published in
1947] Anne Frank: The Diary
of a Young Girl (1959); The Diary of Anne Frank (1980); The
Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (1988); Anne Frank the Whole Story
(2001); The Diary of Anne Frank (2009)
The Diary of
Anne Frank a young Jewish girl hiding with her family from the Nazi’s during
WWII.
1949 The
Naked and The Dead by Norman Mailer [First Published in 1948] The Naked and The Dead (1958)
The novel
focuses on a platoon taking a fictional island called Anopopei from the
Japanese during WWII. So, the US military can advance into the Philippines.
1950 The Cardinal by Henry
Morton Robinson [First Published in 1950] The Cardinal (1963)
Stephen Fermoyle is an ambitious Irish Catholic Priest when it becomes a worrisome to his superiors, he is sent to a rural parish to learn humility. As he is on this journey his sister becomes pregnant and is in a situation that only one of them can live. He follows the Catholic teaching, and his sister dies resulting in a crisis of faith. After a break he returns to Rome and helps other priests in dealing with and opposing the KKK in the US South and Nazis in Europe thus earning him the rank of Cardinal.
Stephen Fermoyle is an ambitious Irish Catholic Priest when it becomes a worrisome to his superiors, he is sent to a rural parish to learn humility. As he is on this journey his sister becomes pregnant and is in a situation that only one of them can live. He follows the Catholic teaching, and his sister dies resulting in a crisis of faith. After a break he returns to Rome and helps other priests in dealing with and opposing the KKK in the US South and Nazis in Europe thus earning him the rank of Cardinal.
1951 From
Here to Eternity by James Jones [First Published in 1951]: From
Here to Eternity (1953/1979)
Just before
WWII a private is punished for refusing to be in the units boxing unit. While
this is going on his commanding officer is having an affair with their
Captain’s wife.
1952 The
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger [First Published in 1951]
After getting
expelled from Holden Caulfield spends a few days in New York dealing with
depression, looking for love and or sex and reflecting on his view of the
world.
While there is no adaption to the book by J.D. Salinger however there is a Biopic about the authors life titled Rebel In The Rye (2017)
1953 The
Robe by Lloyd C, Douglas [First Published in 1942]: The Robe
(1953)
A Roman
soldier wins Christ’s robe while gambling. He decides to set out on a quest to
learn about the man who owned the robe.
1954 Not
As A Stranger by Morton Thompson [First Published in 1954]: Not As A Stranger (1955)
A young
Doctor who lives for medicine and sacrifices everything for his medical career
comes to grips with his limitations and realizes the importance of his friends and family.
1955 The
Man in The Grey Flannel Suit Sloan Wilson [First Published in 1954]:
The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit (1956)
A man’s
personal quest for purpose in a culture dominated by business, success,
consumerism and social status.
1956
Eloise by Kay Thompson [First Published in 1955]: Eloise at the
Plaza (2003), Eloise At
Christmastime (2003)
A girl that
lives on the top floor in the Plaza Hotel with a nanny and various pets
explores the building and the people who live there.
1957 Peyton
Place by Grace Metalious [First Published in 1956]: Peyton Place
(1957) Peyton Place series (1964-1969)
The scandals,
passions, secrets and lies of a picture-perfect town in New Hampshire.
1958 Lolita
by Vladimir Nabokov [First Published in 1955]: Lolita (1962/1997)
A man marries
his landlady so he can be close to her underage daughter that he secretly
desires.
1959 Doctor
Zhivago by Boris Pasternak [First
Published in 1957]: Doctor Zhivago (1965/2002)
A young
married doctor falls in love with a married woman and faces various hardships during WWI
and The October Revolution.
1960 To
Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee [First
Published in 1960]: To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Atticus
Finch, a lawyer in the depression era Deep South defends a black man accused of
raping a white woman in court of law. While teaching his children about
predigests.
1961 Tropic
of Cancer by Henry Miller [First Published in 1934]: Tropic of
Cancer (1970)
The story
depicts the adventures of an American writer and his friends in France in the
1920’s and 30’s.
1962 Franny
and Zooey by J.D. Salinger [First Published in 1961]
Two short
stories about the two members of the Glass family as one daughter deals with
disillusionment of college life, and the other has spiritual and existential breakdown.
1963 The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris
West [First Published in 1963] The Shoes of the Fisherman
(1968)
Set during The Cold War Ukrainian Catholic Priest Kiril Pavlovich Lakota is set free from a labor camp and is sent to Rome. Where is made a Cardinal. The Pope dies shortly after that and Kiril is elected as the Pope. In this new position he must deal with Vatican politics, the troubles of the world and moral choices.
Set during The Cold War Ukrainian Catholic Priest Kiril Pavlovich Lakota is set free from a labor camp and is sent to Rome. Where is made a Cardinal. The Pope dies shortly after that and Kiril is elected as the Pope. In this new position he must deal with Vatican politics, the troubles of the world and moral choices.
1964 You
Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming [First Published in 1964]: You
Only Live Twice (1967)
The 12th
007 novel by Ian Fleming his last novel published in his lifetime. James Bond
must find a space capsule and stop WWIII.
1965 Herzog
by Saul Bellow [First Published in 1964]:
A man who has
failed at writing, teaching, and marriage writes letters to various people that
he never sends.
1966 Valley
of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann:
[First Published in 1966]: Valley of
the Dolls (1967)/Jacqueline Susann's
Valley of the Dolls (1981)
Three women
in show business become friends and have success until amphetamines and
barbiturates lead to their downfall.
1967 Rosemary’s
Baby by Ira Levin [First Published in 1967]: Rosemary’s Baby
(1968/2014)
Rosemary and
her husband move into a new apartment she comes to believe her neighbors and
eventually her husband are a part of a Satanic Cult.
1968 Couples
by John Updike [First Published in 1968]:
Starting in
1962 the novel is about love, marriage, & adultery between ten couples
living in a small suburban Massachusetts town.
1969 Portnoy’s
Complaint by Philip Roth [First
Published in 1969]: Portnoy’s Complaint (1972)
The novel is
a humorous semi-monolog of a kinky bachelor who confesses to his sexual;
escapades to his psychoanalyst.
1970 Love
Story by Erich Segal [First Published in 1970]: Love Story
(1970)
A rich boy
with a bright future and girl from a working-class background fall in love,
marry and are happy until tragedy strikes.
1971 The
Exorcist by William Peter Blatty [First Published in 1971]: The Exorcist
(1973) The Exorcist: The Series (2016 - 2017)
The book and film details the demonic position
of a 12-year-old girl, Regan MacNeil who gets possessed after playing with a Ouija
board. After series of strange supernatural things happen around the house as Regan’s starts to withdrawal and her behavior, mental, and physical wellbeing gets
worse. Regan’s Mother Chris MacNeil a famous film actress who also an atheist has
exhausted all of the medical options; turns to the Catholic Chruch which sends two
priests to exorcise the demon. The TV series expands on the original story.
1972 Jonathan
Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach [First Published in 1970]: Jonathan
Livingston Seagull (1973)
A rebellious
young seagull is kicked out of his tribe, so he works on improving himself
exploring his freedom.
1973 Breakfast
of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut [First Published in 1973]: Breakfast
of Champions (1999)
A used car
dealer with a mental illness starts to believe that a science fiction writer’s
works are the literal truth.
1974 Jaws
by Peter Benchley [First Published in 1973]: Jaws (1975)
A Great White
Shark preys on a small coastal resort town. Three men the Sheriff, a marine
biologist, and a shark hunter mount an expedition to remove the shark one way or another.
1975 Ragtime
by E.L. Doctorow [First Published in 1975]: Ragtime (1981)
A wealthy
family interacts with various historical figures and important historical events
between 1902 -1912.
1976 Sleeping
Murder (Miss Marple #13) by Agatha Christie [First Published
in 1976]: Sleeping Murder
(1987)
Miss. Marple
helps a young couple solve an almost perfect murder committed years before.
1977 The
Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough [First
Published in 1977]: The Thorn Birds (1983)
The story is
about the struggle of three generations of the Cleary family in Australian
Sheep Country and a forbidden love between a priest and the youngest daughter of the
Cleary family.
1978 Fools
Die by Mario Puzo [First Published in 1978]:
Brothers Merlyn
and Artie live in a world of gambling, publishing, and organized crime.
1979 Sophie’s
Choice by William Styron [First Published in 1979]: Sophie’s Choice (1982)
A writer
befriends a couple that are in a love hate relationship and are haunted by the
choice that Sophie made while in a Nazi concentration camp.
1980 The
Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum [First Published in 1980]: The
Bourne Identity (1988/2002)
An injured
man wakes up with retro grade amnesia and several shadow groups, assassins, the
CIA, are after him. He wants to know why.
1981 Cujo
by Stephen King [First Published in 1981]: Cujo (1983)
A Saint
Bernard is infected with rabies. Goes crazy from the disease and attacks and
kills his family and other people around him.
1982 E.T.
The Extra Terrestrial by William Kotzwinkle [First Published in
1982]: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
A lonely boy
and his siblings help a lost and stranded alien get home, and away from
government alien hunters.
1983 The
Color Purple by Alice Walker [First Published in 1982]: The
Color Purple (1985) (2024)
Set in
Georgia during the 1930’s the story is about a black woman of low social
status, suffers abuse from her father and others over four decades.
1984 The
Sicilian by Mario Puzo [First Published in 1984]: The
Sicilian (1987)
Robin Hood
like figure Salvatore Giuliano fights the government, the church, the mafia,
and landed gentry for the people of Sicily and its independence.
1985 Secrets
by Danielle Steel [First Published in 1985]: Secrets (1992)
A producer
making a new nighttime drama has a cast that has secrets worth of any TV drama.
As the series starts shooting all of the secrets come to a head.
1986 The
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy [First Published in 1986]: The
Prince of Tides (1991)
A man who has taken responsibility of his
family from a young age, talks with his suicidal sister's psychiatrist about
their family history. The man and the psychiatrist fall in love.
1987 Patriot
Games by Tom Clancy (Jack Ryan #2) [First Published in 1987]: Patriot
Games (1992)
C.I.A.
researcher Jack Ryan intervenes in an assignation marking him and his family as
targets for revenge.
1988 The
Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice: [First Published in 1988]:The
Queen of the Damned (2002)
Book three in
the Vampire Chronicles: The Vampire Lestat becomes a rock star waking the first
vampire from her slumber resulting in a confrontation between the vampire queen
who wishes to conquer the world and those who stop her.
1989 The
Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie [First Published in 1988]
Two actors of
Indian Muslim background that survive a terrorist bombing are physically
transformed into looking like an archangel and a devil from the Quran.
1990 The
Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos [First Published in
1989]: The Mambo Kings (1992)
In the 1950’s
two musician brothers escape Cuba for the US. Once in the US they work to
fulfill their dreams in the new world.
1991 The
Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien [First Published in 1990]: A
Soldier’s Sweetheart (1998)
A set of
connected short stories about US soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War.
1992 Waiting
to Exhale by Terry McMillan [First Published in 1992]: Waiting
to Exhale (1995)
Friendship
between four different African-American women as men, careers, and families
take them in different directions in life.
1993 The
Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller [First Published in
1992]: The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
A
photographer creating a photo essay of the covered bridges of Madison County
has an affair with a lonely farmer’s wife over four days in the 1960’s.
1994 Midnight
in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt [First Published in
1994]: Midnight In The Garden
of Good and Evil (1997)
A non-fiction
novel accounting the events of wealthy Danny Hansford being killed and the resulting
murder trial.
1995 High
Fidelity by Nick Hornby [First Published in 1995]: High
Fidelity (2000)
A record shop
owner/music expert and compulsive list maker is going through a bad breakup. He
decides to reexamine his top five breakups so he can move on with his life.
1996 The
Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard [First Published in
1996]: The Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
This is about
a suburban family’s reaction when their kidnapped son is discovered nine years
later alive and well living in the town they just moved to.
1997 Cold
Mountain by Charles Frazier [First Published in 1997]: Cold
Mountain (2003)
Near the end
on the US Civil War W. P. Inman a wounded Confederate Soldier walks for months
to his home in Cold Mountain, North Carolina and the love of his life Ada
Monroe.
1998 Paradise
by Toni Morrison [First Published in 1997]
The novel
tells the story of a conflict growing from tension to a massacre. The conflict
is between Ruby an all-black town and a battered women’s shelter located in a
former convent seventeen miles away from the town of Ruby.
1999 Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling [First Published
in 1998]: Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets (2002)
The second
book in the Harry Potter series; Harry is warned to stay away from Hogwarts because
the Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Harry ignores the warnings (of course) and
finds the school plagued by a series of mysterious attacks.
2000 The
Rescue by Nicholas Sparks [First Published in 2000]:
A fireman who
is great in a crisis and saving lives has trouble with love and intimacy. Until
a rescue of a single mother and her disabled son change everything.
2001 The
Corrections by Jonathan Franzen [First Published in 2001]: The
Corrections (2012)
A Midwestern
couple and their three adult children gather together at the family home for
one last Christmas together.
2002 The
Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold [First
Published in 2002]: The Lovely Bones (2009)
A teenage
girl is raped and murdered then watches from her personal heaven as her family
and friends deal with moving on while she comes to terms with her death.
2003 The
Da Vinci Code (Book 2 in the Robert Langdon series) by Dan Brown [First
Published in 2003]: The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Harvard
symbologist Robert Langdon is pulled into a religious mystery after a murder at
the Louve.
2004 The
Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom [First Published in
2003]: The Five People You Meet In Heaven (2004)
After an
elderly man dies trying to save a child he is sent to heaven where he meets
with five people that help him learn the impact his life had and to find peace.
2005 The
Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd [First Published in 2004]: The
Mermaid Chair (2006)
A middle-aged
married woman falls in love with a monk while caring for her dying mother.
2006 Marley
& Me by John Grogan [First Published in 2005]: Marley &
Me (2008)
An
autobiographical book about the Grogan family its destructive, wild, labor
retriever.
2007 Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows by
J.K. Rowling [First
Published in 2007]: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part
1 (2010), Part 2 (2011)
The seventh
novel in the Harry Potter series; Harry has his final battle with his arch
enemy Lord Voldemort.
2008 Twilight
by Stephanie Meyer [First Published
in 2005]: Twilight (2008)
The first
book in the Twilight saga A girl and a vampire fall in love.
2009 My
Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult [First Published in 2004]: My Sisters
Keeper (2009)
Anna
Fitzgerald sues for emancipation from her parents. Due to the fact she has been
used to keep her older leukemia-stricken sister alive but has come to point of
wanting to make her own choices.
2010 The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson [First Published in
2005]:The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2010/2011)
A journalist
and a hacker search for a woman that has been missing and presumed dead for forty
years.
2011 The
Help by Kathryn Stockett [First Published in 2009]: The Help
(2011)
During the
1960’s A young college graduate and aspiring author writes a book detailing
African American maids' point of view on the families they work for and their
daily.
2012 Fifty
Shades of Grey by E.L. James [First Published in 2011]: Fifty
Shades of Grey (2015)
A literature
student meets billionaire Christian Grey a man with specific sexual and
romantic tastes. Together they pursue a relationship.
2013 Gone
Girl by Gillian Flynn [First Published in 2012]: Gone Girl
(2014)
When a man’s
wife goes missing, he becomes the prime suspect and is tried in the court of
public opinion and the media.
2014 The
Fault in Our Stars by John Green [First Published in 2012]: The
Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Two cancer
patients that meet and fall in love at a cancer support group. Go on a journey
to Amsterdam to meet with a retired, reclusive author.
2015 The Girl on the Train by Paula
Hawkins [First Published in 2015] The Girl on the Train (2016)(2021)
An alcoholic Rachel Watson sees something strange on her daily train ride. She decides to get involved which results with her becoming entangled in a missing persons/murder investigation.
An alcoholic Rachel Watson sees something strange on her daily train ride. She decides to get involved which results with her becoming entangled in a missing persons/murder investigation.
