Goodread’s Best Books Of 2015
0Goodreads has just announced its Best Books of 2015 as voted on by the readers across 20 categories, ranging from Historical Fiction to Children’s Picture Books. With studios and production companies increasingly seeking to pick up the rights to the next hot literary property and adapt it into a summer blockbuster or an awards season contender, the books on this list could become the next talked-about adaptation in the near future.
Here at the Tracking Board, we’ve been ramping up our exclusive tracking of television and film rights for the industry’s most buzzed about literary properties, and as such, we’ve done the digging and marked which of these titles have already been optioned, and which are still available. And while many have already been picked up by major studios and production companies, it’s a good bet that many more will be the subject of some serious bidding wars very soon.
Goodreads’ Best Books of 2015 (Winners in bold)
Fiction
GO SET A WATCHMAN (Unavailable)
Harper Lee
AFTER YOU
Jojo Moyes
THE ROYAL WE (Lauren Graham & Mae Whitman developing for CBS Films; Whitman to star)
Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
A LITTLE LIFE (Available)
Hanya Yanagihara
MY GRANDMOTHER ASKED ME TO TELL YOU SHE’S SORRY (Available)
Fredrik Backman
Mystery & Thriller
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (Under option at DreamWorks; Tate Taylor to direct)
Paula Hawkins
FINDERS KEEPERS (Unavailable)
Stephen King
CAREER OF EVIL (In development for television)
Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
OBSESSION IN DEATH (Available)
J.D. Robb
PRETTY GIRLS (Available)
Karin Slaughter
Historical Fiction
THE NIGHTINGALE (Under option to TriStar; Elizabeth Cantillon to produce)
Kristin Hannah
A GOD IN RUINS (Unavailable)
Kate Atkinson
AT THE WATER’S EDGE (Available)
Sara Gruen
REBEL QUEEN
Michelle Moran
IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT (Available)
Judy Blume
Fantasy
TRIGGER WARNING
Neil Gaiman
A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC (Available)
V.E. Schwab
SHADOWS OF SELF (Unavailable)
Brandon Sanderson
MAGIC SHIFTS
Ilona Andrews
THE AERONAUTS WINDLASS (Available)
Jim Butcher
Romance
CONFESS
Colleen Hoover
GREY
E.L. James
THE SHADOWS
J.R. Ward
THE DEAL
Elle Kennedy
CAPTIVATED BY YOU (Under option to Lionsgate TV with Impact Pictures and Clover Entertainment producing)
Sylvia Day
Science Fiction
GOLDEN SUN (Under option to Universal; the author adapted; Marc Forster is attached to direct)
Pierce Brown
SEVENEVES (Available – see our exclusive)
Neal Stephenson
THE HEART GOES LAST (Available)
Margaret Atwood
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE (Available)
Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
THE WATER KNIFE (Under option to Fox TV)
Paolo Bacigalupi
Horror
SAINT ODD
Dean Koontz
ALICE
Christina Henry
THE LAST AMERICAN VAMPIRE (Unavailable, Fox owns property)
Seth Grahame-Smith
SLADE HOUSE (Cuba Films developing at BBC)
David Mitchell
THICKER THAN BLOOD
Madeline Sheehan & Claire C. Riley
Humor
WHY NOT ME?
Mindy Kaling
YOU’RE NEVER WEIRD ON THE INTERNET
Felicia Day
FURIOUSLY HAPPY (Available)
Jenny Lawson
BINGE
Tyler Oakley
YES, MY ACCENT IS REAL
Kunal Nayyar
Nonfiction
MODERN ROMANCE (Available)
Aziz Ansari with Eric Klinenberg
HUMANS OF NEW YORK: STORIES (Available, but author has no intention of selling)
Brandon Stanton
BIG MAGIC (Available)
Elizabeth Gilbert
BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME (Available, but author has no interest in selling)
Ta-Nehisi Coates
H IS FOR HAWK (Rights sold to Lena Headey, who is looking for backers)
Helen Macdonald
Memoir & Autobiography
A WORK IN PROGRESS
Connor Franta
IN REAL LIFE
Joey Graceffa
AMERICAN WIFE
Taya Kyle with Jim DeFelice
THE GIRL WITH SEVEN NAMES
Hyeonseo Lee
M TRAIN (Available – see our exclusive)
Patti Smith
History & Biography
DEAD WAKE: THE LAST CROSSING OF THE LUSITANIA (Available)
Erik Larson
THE WITCHES (Under option to Scott Rudin Productions)
Stacy Schiff
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
David McCullough
BORN SURVIVORS
Wendy Holden
PIONEER GIRL: THE ANNOTATED AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Author’s estate is not interested in optioning the rights)
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Pamela Smith Hill (Editor)
Science & Technology
BENEATH THE SURFACE: KILLER WHALES, SEAWORLD, AND THE TRUTH BEYOND BLACKFISH
(Optioned by Michael K. Snyder and Rachel K. Stotts at Crash Films – see our exclusive)
John Hargrove with Howard Chua-Eoan
HEADSTRONG: 52 WOMEN WHO CHANGED SCIENCE AND THE WORLD (Available)
Rachel Swaby
VOICES IN THE OCEAN (Available)
Susan Casey
FORENSICS
Val McDermid
COME AS YOU ARE
Emily Nagoski, Ph. D
Food & Cookbooks
THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS: DINNERTIME
Ree Drummond
NERDY NUMMIES
Rosanna Pansino
CHOCOLATE COVERED KATIE
Katie Higgins
GENIUS RECIPES
Kristen Miglore
LIFE FROM SCRATCH (Available)
Sasha Martin
Graphic Novels & Comics
SAGA, VOLUME 4 (Series Available)
Brian K. Vaughan (Writer), Fiona Staples (Artist)
NIMONA (Under option to Fox Animation Studios)
Noelle Stevenson
ATTACK ON TITAN, VOLUME 15 (Toho producing for Japan)
Hajime Isayama
MS. MARVEL, VOLUME 2: GENERATION WHY (Marvel developing)
G. Willow Wilson (Writer), Adrian Alphona (Artist), Jacob Wyatt (Artist)
THOR, VOLUME 1: THE GODESS OF THUNDER
Jason Aaron (Writer), Russell Dauterman (Illustrator), Jorge Molina (Illustrator)
POETRY
THE DOGS I HAVE KISSED
Trista Mateer
MEMORIES
Lang Leav
POP SONNETS
Erik Didrikson
BLACK BUTTERFLY
Robert M. Drake
I WROTE THIS FOR YOU AND ONLY YOU
pleasefindthis, Jon Ellis (Photographer)
Debut Goodreads Author
RED QUEEN
Victoria Aveyard
AN EMBER IN THE ASHES
Sabaa Tahir
SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA (Under option to Fox 2000; Temple Hill producing)
Becky Albertalli
EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING
Nicola Yoon
SERAFINA AND THE BLACK CLOAK (Available)
Robert Beatty
Young Adult Fiction
ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES (Under option to the Mazar/Kaplan Company, Elle Fanning attached to star)
Jennifer Niven
P.S. I STILL LOVE YOU
Jenny Han
SAINT ANYTHING
Sarah Dessen
I WAS HERE (Under option to New Line)
Gayle Forman
SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA (Under option to Fox 2000; Temple Hill producing)
Becky Albertalli
Young Adult Fantasy
QUEEN OF SHADOWS
Sarah J. Maas
CARRY ON (Available – see our exclusive)
Rainbow Rowell
WINTER (Under option to DreamWorks Animation)
Marissa Meyer
RED QUEEN
Victoria Aveyard
THE HEIR
Kiera Cass
MIDDLE GRADE & CHILD
THE SWORD OF SUMMER
Rick Riordan
THE LAST EVER AFTER (Series under option to Universal with Jane Startz producing and the author adapting)
Soman Chainani
BEYOND THE KINGDOM
Chris Colfer
SERAFINA AND THE BLACK CLOAK (Available)
Robert Beatty
GEORGE (Available – see our exclusive)
Alex Gino
PICTURE BOOKS
THE DAY THE CRAYONS CAME HOME
Drew Daywalt, Oliver Jeffers (Illustrations)
WINNIE: THE TRUE STORY OF THE BEAR WHO INSPIRED WINNIE THE POOH
Sally M. Walker, Jonathan D. Voss (Illustrator)
I WILL TAKE A NAP!
Mo Willems
WHAT PET SHOULD I GET?
Dr. Seuss
THE PRINCESS AND THE PONY
Kate Beaton