This is the first issue.
Earlier this week we published a piece on why we’re building an index for reading culture, not bestseller lists. The short version: bestseller lists measure what sold; we wanted a measurement of what was actually being read, talked about, and passed along. The Siftivo Reading Index is the answer.
Below is the chart for the week of May 31, 2026: Reading Index, Fiction Top 25 + Reading Index, Nonfiction Top 25. Every entry links through to its full Siftivo book page if you want to dig in.
A note on this issue: the Index has been running quietly for a few weeks to build a baseline, which is why some entries already carry weeks-on-chart and movement. This is just the first issue we’re publishing. The chart runs on real signal, and the formula will refine and expand over time. Each change to the methodology gets a new version stamp on the chart and a short writeup explaining what moved. The full methodology becomes public as it firms up. Building in the open.
Reading Index, Fiction (Top 25)
1. A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman · 1w on chart · peak #1 · NEW
2. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi · 3w on chart · peak #1 · down 1
3. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke · 3w on chart · peak #1 · up 2
4. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir · 3w on chart · peak #4 · hold
5. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt · 3w on chart · peak #5 · up 3
6. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman · 3w on chart · peak #6 · up 3
7. Broken Dove by Dani Francis · 1w on chart · peak #7 · NEW
8. The Fourth Option by M. P. Woodward · 1w on chart · peak #8 · NEW
9. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans · 3w on chart · peak #2 · up 1
10. Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune · 2w on chart · peak #2 · down 8
11. Game On by Navessa Allen · 3w on chart · peak #11 · hold
12. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett · 2w on chart · peak #6 · down 6
13. The Deal by Elle Kennedy · 1w on chart · peak #13 · NEW
14. The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny · 1w on chart · peak #14 · NEW
15. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman · 3w on chart · peak #14 · hold
16. The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman · 3w on chart · peak #16 · up 1
17. The Daisy Chain Flower Shop by Laurie Gilmore · 2w on chart · peak #7 · down 10
18. Rules for the Summer by Meghan Quinn · 2w on chart · peak #14 · down 4
19. King of Gluttony by Ana Huang · 2w on chart · peak #9 · re-entry
20. First and Forever by Lynn Painter · 1w on chart · peak #20 · NEW
21. Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry · 3w on chart · peak #21 · hold
22. The Vipers by Katy Hays · 1w on chart · peak #22 · NEW
23. Starside by Alex Aster · 3w on chart · peak #12 · down 7
24. Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen · 2w on chart · peak #3 · down 21
25. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden · 2w on chart · peak #25 · hold
What stood out
Four books, one author. Matt Dinniman has four titles in the Fiction Top 25 this week. A Parade of Horribles debuts at #1, with Dungeon Crawler Carl at #6, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario at #15, and The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook at #16. A LitRPG series that built its audience largely outside traditional publishing now holds a sixth of the chart. That is the kind of circulation a sales rank tends to notice late and an index like this one catches as it happens.
Biggest mover. Remarkably Bright Creatures climbed 3 spots to #5. Shelby Van Pelt’s octopus-narrated novel is years past release and still finding readers, the slow word-of-mouth burn that never really shows up as a single event.
Still holding. Project Hail Mary sits at #4 for a third straight week, the film adaptation keeping Andy Weir’s space novel in front of new readers.
Reading Index, Nonfiction (Top 25)
1. Strangers by Belle Burden · 3w on chart · peak #1 · hold
2. Suicidal Empathy by Gad Saad · 1w on chart · peak #2 · NEW
3. Take Me to Your Leader by Neil deGrasse Tyson · 1w on chart · peak #3 · NEW
4. Famesick by Lena Dunham · 3w on chart · peak #3 · down 1
5. The Case for America by Bret Baier · 2w on chart · peak #2 · down 3
6. London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe · 3w on chart · peak #4 · down 1
7. Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About by Isabel Klee · 3w on chart · peak #1 · up 1
8. True Crime by Patricia Cornwell · 2w on chart · peak #6 · down 2
9. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt · 3w on chart · peak #8 · up 16
10. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk · 3w on chart · peak #10 · hold
11. The U.S. Constitution by Melissa Murray · 2w on chart · peak #4 · down 7
12. I Am Not a Robot by Joanna Stern · 1w on chart · peak #12 · NEW
13. You with the Sad Eyes by Christina Applegate · 2w on chart · peak #13 · hold
14. Stripped Down by Bunnie Xo · 3w on chart · peak #6 · down 2
15. American Rambler by Isaac Fitzgerald · 1w on chart · peak #15 · NEW
16. This Vast Enterprise by Craig Fehrman · 3w on chart · peak #14 · down 2
17. Phases by Brandy with Gerrick Kennedy · 2w on chart · peak #15 · down 2
18. A World Appears by Michael Pollan · 2w on chart · peak #17 · down 1
19. Vengeance by Tom Clavin · 1w on chart · peak #19 · NEW
20. Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre · 2w on chart · peak #19 · down 1
21. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey · 2w on chart · peak #20 · down 1
22. Arsenio by Arsenio Hall with Alan Eisenstock · 1w on chart · peak #22 · NEW
23. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink · 2w on chart · peak #22 · down 1
24. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy · 2w on chart · peak #23 · down 1
25. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin · 2w on chart · peak #24 · down 1
What stood out
Biggest mover. The Anxious Generation jumped 16 spots to #9. Jonathan Haidt’s book on phones and adolescence is two years old now and behaves less like a backlist title and more like an argument the culture keeps coming back to.
Longest run. Strangers holds at #1 for a third straight week. Belle Burden’s memoir has not given up the top spot since the Index started tracking it.
Notable debuts. Two strong entries this week: Suicidal Empathy lands at #2, and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Take Me to Your Leader debuts at #3.
Methodology, briefly
The Index aggregates real reading and bestseller signal with three layers on top: position weighting (rank #1 counts more than rank #15), per-source weighting (some sources are more representative of reading culture than others), and a momentum coefficient that rewards climbing. Books carry weeks-on-chart, peak rank, and debut detection from the moment the Index started running.
The formula is versioned. Every chart we publish is tagged with the methodology version that produced it. As the source mix expands and the math refines, the full methodology becomes public alongside the change.
The Index is free, weekly, and always will be. If a book that should obviously be in cultural circulation this week isn’t on the chart, tell us. The whole thing only gets better with more signal.
Next issue
Next Friday morning, same time. Bookmark this page or join Siftivo to get the chart delivered along with daily picks tuned to your taste.
