Trends of Books in UAE in recent Years

                    Trends of Books in UAE in recent Years

Books are timeless classics, but in recent years, new books have made a trend, with people engaging in more and more trendy books.

In the meantime, we've rounded up the 24 most popular fiction and nonfiction books trending in UAE in recent years, chosen for how often they've been added to readers' "Want to Read" shelves.

Whether you're looking for a new release from an adored author or a timely nonfiction read, these books are the most popular amongst people of the UAE in recent years.

Fiction:

1. "People We Meet on Vacation" by Emily Henry: From the author of the 2020 hit "Beach Read" comes another summer favorite of two unlikely friends that vacation together every summer. Alex and Poppy couldn't be more opposite: Alex, a quiet boy with hometown charm, and Poppy, a wanderlust-fueled wild child.

2. "Malibu Rising" by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Taylor Jenkins Reid novels are known for being absolute page-turners, and "Malibu Rising" is no different. This book bounces between an epic, life-changing party over 24 hours and the family history of four famous siblings.

3. "The Four Winds" by Kristin Hannah: Kristin Hannah is known for her heartbreaking and exciting historical fiction novels. "The Four Winds" takes place in Texas in 1934 during the Great Depression and an insufferable drought.

4. "The Last Thing He Told Me" by Laura Dave: Before Owen Michael disappears, he leaves his new wife, Hannah, an ominous note reading "protect her," clearly referring to his teenage daughter, Bailey. As Hannah and Bailey wait for his return, the FBI arrests Owen's boss and shows up to their home, sending the two women on a mission to piece together Owen's past and find out the real reason he disappeared.

5. "The Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles: In June of 1954, Emmett Watson was 18 and newly released from his one-year service on a work farm, time served for involuntary manslaughter. With his parents gone and their property foreclosed by the bank, Emmett plans to take his eight-year-old brother west for a fresh start, until he discovers that two friends from the work farm in the car that brought him home have very different plans for Emmett's future.

6. "Klara and the Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro: In 2017, Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize in Literature — this is his first novel since the award. Set in the near future, "Klara and the Sun" explores the human condition through Klara,  an Artificial Friend. Klara is AI, keenly observational and eerily understanding the depth of human emotion as she watches out the store window and waits for a customer to one day choose her.

7. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë-This tumultuous tale of life in a bleak farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors is a popular set text. Populated largely by characters whose inability to control their own emotions leads to violence and revenge, it’s a tale that spans two generations and two families.

8.  Middlemarch, by George Eliot- Middlemarch, subtitled “A Study of Provincial Life”, is the story of the inhabitants of a Midlands village in the 1830s. Masterfully weaving together several plotlines, the novel charts the fortunes of an interesting cast of characters, exploring their motivations, delusions and preoccupations.

9. Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell- Nineteen Eighty-Four makes depressing but essential reading. Published in 1949, it’s the author’s vision of a dystopian future dominated by totalitarian state surveillance, mind control and perpetual war. At the center of the novel is Winston, whose job is to rewrite old news stories so that they toe the party line, whom we follow in his quest for rebellion against the government he works for.

10. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien- If you haven’t read the book, you’ll almost certainly have seen Peter Jackson’s epic three-part movie adaptation of it. Incredible though the films are, there’s inevitably a lot missing from them and it’s well worth persevering with the book’s slowish start to follow the journey of Frodo and friends more closely. If you’re not familiar with the story, The Lord of the Rings tells the story of a hobbit, Frodo, who must undertake a dangerous mission to the dark land of Mordor to destroy a powerful ring – a weapon that absolutely corrupts those who come under its power.

11. Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith

If you're ever in need of a little gentle comic relief, you can’t do much better than the delightful Diary of a Nobody. It’s the (made-up) diary of a self-important Victorian lower-middle class gentleman, Charles Pooter, in which he details the day-to-day household quandaries and social embarrassments we can all relate to.

12. His Dark Materials, trilogy by Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials is composed of three novels: Northern Lights (known in the US as The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. The story is set in a fantasy world that contains numerous parallel universes, some of which bear some resemblance to real-life Oxford. Lyra, the protagonist, inhabits the fictional Jordan College, Oxford, in a world in which human beings are accompanied by animal embodiments of their souls, called daemons.

 13. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë

This novel by Emily Brontë’s elder sister Charlotte has inspired numerous film adaptations, and tells the tale of a young governess, Jane Eyre, who goes to live and work in a foreboding country house with an eccentric master, Edward Rochester, who hides a dark secret in a remote wing of his sprawling home. The story focuses on Jane’s transition to adulthood, told from her perspective in the first person.

14. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

Here is another coming-of-age story, and arguably one of the greatest ever told. If you think Charles Dickens is boring, or you've put him off by studying him at school, please give him another chance. Like all his novels, Great Expectations is full of humor and populated by an entertaining cast of brilliantly-named characters. It tells the tale of Pip, an orphan from a poor background who learns a valuable lesson in life after his acquisition of personal wealth proves an unsatisfying experience that changes him for the worse, driving him away from the only people who’ve ever loved him.

15. Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier

Even if you’re not normally into the Gothic, Rebecca is sure to have you gripped. Its nameless narrator tells the chilling tale of her experiences at Manderley, the house at the center of the story, after marrying Maxim de Winter, its owner.

16. Any Jane Austen novel

It was impossible to choose just one Jane Austen novel for this list, as they’re all absolutely brilliant and packed full of interesting and sometimes amusing characters – and heroines you can’t fail to love. As well as being entertaining stories in themselves, Jane Austen’s novels are recognised for their historical importance thanks to their social commentary on the Georgian aristocracy.

17. Far from the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy’s evocative novel Far from the Madding Crowd is set in ‘Wessex’, an early region of south-west England that no longer exists but is used to conjure up a sense of a place neither real nor made-up – an agricultural England that, during Hardy’s lifetime, was under threat from industrialisation. Rural life is a central theme in a story that follows the shepherd Gabriel Oak and his love for Bathsheba Everdene, a beautiful and independent newcomer to the local farm she’s just inherited.

18. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh

Evelyn Waugh’s portrayal of the trials and tribulations of an aristocratic family and their friend, the narrator Charles Ryder, has been an inspiration to plenty of Oxford applicants, who hope to recreate the evocative Oxfordian scenes described in the early parts of the book – complete with Sebastian’s famous teddy bear, Aloysius. But there’s a lot more to Brideshead Revisited than idyllic Oxford life and decadent scenes involving Champagne and quail eggs.

19. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878)- Most critics pin it as one of most iconic literary love stories, and for good reason. Leo Tolstoy’s sweeping Russian tale of star-crossed lovers is littered with swoon-worthy quotes like, “He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.” Described by Fyodor Dostoevsky as “flawless,” this one belongs on any book collector’s shelf.

20. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)- Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird upends the quiet solitude of a segregated Southern town with a story of innocence and virtue, bigotry and hate, love and forgiveness. Eight-year-old Scout Finch and her father, Atticus, find themselves enmeshed in the trial of a Black man accused of raping a White woman. In one of the most deeply sad books, Lee tells the events, revelations, and lessons through the eyes of a young child. Widely read and widely taught, To Kill a Mockingbird continues to spark discussions of race in classrooms and libraries across the country.

21. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (1974)- The imagination and artistry of Shel Silverstein are on full display in this classic collection of short stories and poems. Where the Sidewalk Ends is truly one of the best poetry books of all time because of its staying power for children and adults alike. Whimsical and masterful, the stories of this American poet, author, singer, and folk artist have something for everyone.

22. The Shining by Stephen King (1977)- The master of suspense must be included in any list of books you should read in a lifetime. That’s why you’ll find Stephen King’s The Shining here. Brought to life in cinematic perfection by Jack Nicholson, Jack Torrance is a middle-aged man looking for a fresh start. He thinks he’s found it when he lands a job as the off-season caretaker at an idyllic old hotel, the Overlook. But as snow piles higher outside, the secluded location begins to feel more confining and sinister, less freeing and more provoking. Horror fans, take note: This is one of the scariest books of all time.

23. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)- In The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the journey to Middle-earth and into the world of Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf the Gray, the dark lord Sauron, and the entire assemblage of Tolkien’s most famous characters and storylines.