book_title =  ['great', 'expectations','the', 'adventures', 'of', 'sherlock','holmes','the','great','gatsby','hamlet','adventures','of','huckleberry','fin']
word_counter = {}

for word in book_title:
    if word not in word_counter:
        word_counter[word] = 1
    else:
        word_counter[word] += 1

# output
# {'great': 2, 'expectations': 1, 'the': 2, 'adventures': 2, 'of': 2, 'sherlock': 1, 'holmes': 1, 'gatsby': 1, 'hamlet': 1, 'huckleberry': 1, 'fin': 1}