Every week, we put together a list of the bestselling books of the moment, synthesized from the five biggest bestseller lists. This is a good look into the books moving the most units, but these lists are slow to change. Most of the time, the same titles show up week after week, with familiar authors attached. This isn’t the only way to examine the trending books of the moment, though. Amazon has a “Movers & Shakers” page where it lists the books that have seen the biggest gains in sales rank in the last 24 hours. This page is updated frequently, so it offers a snapshot into the mindset of book buyers — at least on Amazon — in this exact moment.
Today, I’ve pulled out five of the books currently trending on Amazon and have tried to determine what made them rise in popularity at this exact moment. By the time you see this post, they may have already fallen off the Movers & Shakers page — it changes a lot faster than the bestseller list. Regardless, I think this gives some insight into the micro trends happening in books right now.
Pickleball Mindset: The Blueprint to Peak Performance by Dayne Gingrich and Jill Martin
If you haven’t heard of pickleball yet, you’d be one of only a few. It’s one of the fastest growing sports of the moment: almost 14 million Americans played it last year. It’s been on the rise since 2022. Pickleball Mindset promises to go beyond teaching you how to play and instead “dives deep into how to think on the court.” It was published today, and it’s the #2 Mover & Shaker on Amazon right now.
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
This book was published in 2021, so why is it trending now? There’s a clue on the cover: it was just announced as Reese’s Book Club‘s April pick. Reese calls it “so engrossing” and “This book truly feels like you’re a fly on the wall watching a real family interact. SO GOOD!” Its sales rank rose 63,541% — going from 10,819 to 17.
Di An: The Salty, Sour, Sweet and Spicy Flavors of Vietnamese Cooking with TwayDaBae (A Cookbook) by Tue Nguyen
Tue Nguyen, a.k.a. @TwayDaBae, is a social media star and chef. She opened her restaurant ĐiĐi last year. Yesterday, she announced her upcoming cookbook, Di An. It’s not out until September, but it’s already climbing the Amazon sales ranking, going from a ranking of 162,137 to 283: a 57,192% increase.
Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne, Ph.D.
This memoir was named one of 2024’s most anticipated releases by Vulture, LitHub, The Guardian, and Cosmopolitan. The wait is over, because it just released yesterday. It’s getting tons of coverage, from NPR to TIME Magazine to the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. It offers a look into a little-understood and highly stigmatized disorder. It’s raised 369% in sales ranking, going from 948 to 202.
James by Percival Everett
This is another book that was one of the most anticipated of the year for many publications, and it’s getting buzz just about everywhere that discusses books. Not only is this retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective fascinating in its own right, it also comes on the heels of the Oscar award for best adapted screenplay going to American Fiction, adapted from Everett’s 2011 novel Erasure. It’s a New York Times bestseller, but it seems to still be climbing the Amazon ranks: it went from 28 to 12, a 133% increase.
Looking for more trending books? Check out this week’s bestseller list!