2015 was an eventful year and it’s coming to a close. I wanted to try to take a look at some of the bookish trends that have happened over the year. Now granted, I was on hiatus for roughly half the year and am a little out of the loop on some things so we’ll see how this goes. Without further ado, here’s…
What was popular in 2015
High Fantasy
For some reason high fantasy was really popular this year. For a while, it seemed like dystopians ruled the book world, but now it seems like gears have shifted to focus on high fantasy instead. I feel like most of the books published this year that had a lot of buzz surrounding it were high fantasy novels like Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, An Ember in the Ashes by by Sabaa Tahir, and A Court of Thrones and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I wonder if the popularity of The Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas had anything to do with influencing this trend??
“Beautifully Written”
This phrase has always been used a lot to describe novels, usually contemporary ones, but I feel like it more so than previous years. It feels like so many of the contemporary novels published this year were tear jerkers or ones that were talented at provoking emotions. Or maybe it was just the ones I read?
JOHN GREEN
Forget about John Cena, John Green had a big year. With the success of The Fault in Our Stars and its movie adaption, it feels like movie studios are rushing to option his other books. I don’t think he has published any more full-length novels since the publication of TFiOS but more and more people are reading his books. To be fair, TFiOS was a really big hit and maybe its success is what influenced the “beautifully written” trend that may or may not have happened.
It was announced that Looking for Alaska is going to be made into a film next year. The adaptation of Paper Towns also came out this year which caused even more buzz around his books. Speaking of book to movie adaptations…
Adaptations of Books
It seems like Hollywood has lost all of its creativity and is now looking at books to provide a basic outline for a movie. That or the fact they have realized that books can be cash cows. They do have a built-in fanbase which means guaranteed sales… The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare was made into a TV show after its movie adaptation tanked a few years ago. It’s supposed to premiere next month on ABC Family. The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner is being wrapped up with the filming for The Death Cure scheduled for next year. The movie version of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey is supposed to be released next month. And I already mentioned John Green’s books.
That’s all the trends I can think of right now.
What do you think?
Are there any trends I forgot?
Do you agree/disagree with my list?
I completely agree with your list of trends, especially the first one. Personally, I have been reading the ToG series, currently on book four, Queen of Shadows. I definitely believe this series has started this trend, as well as the publication of other new and exciting high fantasy novels. I am sadly disappointed that book to movie adaptations have played a tremendous role in the movie industry this year. As much as I would love to see my favorite novels on the screen, I always fear the movie will not be as good as the book, and thus change my feelings toward the book. Because of the time limit for movies, they cannot fit everything from the book into the movie adaption. Just my personal opinion. But when the movie is done well, then it’s great! But unfortunately, that does not happen all the time. Great post!
I always have mixed feelings about book to movie adaptions. On one hand, it’s always nice to see some of your favorite stories exist outside the book (and your head), but on the other hand, I feel like many of the adaptions aren’t done well. There’s always things missing because of the time limit and budget problems and some parts of the novel just don’t translate well/aren’t done well on the big screen. I wish the difference between a good book and good movie aren’t that big.
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The book to movie adaptations are getting a bit annoying. It’s like Hollywood doesn’t have anything better to do than to ruin my favorite novels. They get it right every once in a while (considering movies are a completely different form of media), but still…
I’ve also noticed the High Fantasy thing. I’m not big on high fantasy (most of the time), but I’ve decided to read some of the YA books.
John Green did have a pretty awesome year. Personally though I’m not a fan. I love him on YouTube, but the kind of contemporaries he writes I used to read when I was ten. Now, not so much anymore. Good for him though!
It sucks that Hollywood is so either so focused on making money or really has lost all of its originally that so many novels are being “translated” to the big screen. It would be different if they usually did a good job but I’m usually left disappointed. 🙁
Even though I love fantasy, I’m not a big fan of high fantasy either. There’s just something about it that turns me off.
If I’m honest, I think John Green is a bit overhyped, but then again, I’ve only read one of his books so…
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Hollywood HAS lost all of its creativity. The three main things keeping it afloat? Book to film adaptions, constant re-makes of superhero films (ahem, Batman, Spiderman, the list goes on), and the sudden flair in fairytale retellings. As far as the remakes, it’s like, “Lord, did you not get it right the first five times? No? OK. Just stop, you’re not going to get it the next four.” I’ve only ever read one John Green book, Looking for Alaska, and I am terrified of what they are going to do to it. The book itself means so much to me for personal reasons and I don’t want that ruined. As far as high fantasy, spot on! I have been kind of wary of the fantasy genre in general this year, and my YA embargo was reinforced with the surge of high fantasy.
Haha, Hollywood just doesn’t know when to stop. As long as they’re still making money they don’t have a problem telling the same exact story over and over again. I’ve stopping watching movies in favor of spending more time reading… I would much rather read a new story than watch one of my favorite books get ruined.
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