It’s beach-lake-backyard reading season and the urge to shop for a trendy new title seems to be taking a snooze. The religion and spirituality top 10 bestseller lists, both for nonfiction and fiction, had no newly-released books hit the list for July. Overall sales were sleepy — down 34% for nonfiction and 36% in fiction titles from June. Only the order of some titles rolled up or down a notch or reappeared from a spring list as if they had merely been out of town on vacation.
At the nonfiction top, again: The Women of the Bible Speak: The Wisdom of 16 Women and Their Lessons for Today, by Shannon Bream (Broadside Books), down from 34,969 print copies sold in June to 14,369 in July. It’s followed, again, by Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts, by Jennie Allen (Waterbrook), down from 34,835 copies in June to 13,920 in July. Sarah Young’s unstoppable 2004 devotional Jesus Calling, Enjoying Peace in His Presence (Thomas Nelson) moved up a notch to third place from fourth even as its sales slowed from 17,296 to 13,920.
At #4 was Lysa TerKeurst’s spring title, Seeing Beautiful Again: 50 Devotions to Find Redemption in Every Part of Your Story (Thomas Nelson). Voddie T. Baucham’s controversial critique, Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe (Salem) is #5. Late July accusations that he plagiarized and misquoted people may affect sales this month although the publisher is defending Baucham’s work, according to Religion News Service.
Wrapping up the list: #6 Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud (Zondervan); #7 Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane C. Ortlund (Crossway); #8 Women Evolve: Break up with Your Fears and Revolutionize Your Life by Sarah Jakes Roberts (Thomas Nelson); #9 Forgiving What You Can’t Forget: Discover How to Move On, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That’s Beautiful Again, by TerKeurst (Thomas Nelson); #10 Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table: It’s Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind by Louie Giglio (Thomas Nelson).
Novels weren’t novel in July as people stayed with tried-and-true writers with just the list order slightly shuffled from June. Third on the list is Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love (Multnomah), published in 2005 and now being adapted for a film to be released in early 2022. Perennial bestselling author Karen Kingsbury has two titles, as usual, listed in July, including the most recently published title #8, Truly, Madly, Deeply (Atria), which was released in May, and #2, A Distant Shore (Atria Books) released in April. The top title, Malka Adler’s The Brothers of Auschwitz (One More Chapter), will be a year old in September. Jonathan Cahn has his two Frontline titles listed, again. The Harbinger is #10 and its sequel, The Harbinger II: The Return, is #5 -- sandwiched between #4 C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce (HarperOne) and #6 The Shack, by William P. Young (Windblown Media).
Buyers also refreshed their interest in two Thomas Nelson titles from earlier this year. The Bookshop by the Sea by Denise Hunter is #7 and The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron is #9.
