Popular Books and the screen adaptations from 1930 to 2015

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. 

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 20^th 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 17^th 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. 

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. 

1964 You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming [First Published in 1964]: You Only Live Twice (1967)

The 12^th 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.