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The Best-Sellers of 2021

Let's talk books!

It's no secret that the pandemic gave us more than enough time to pick up new hobbies. For some, it was baking, doing puzzles, online gaming, or painting.

However, one past time became uber-popular, and that was reading. Who knows if people were just eager to jump into a fictional world to escape the present one or if the hunger for knowledge was intensified, but book sales were up a staggering 9% in 2021, with over 827.5 million units sold. 

Shortly after the new year, an official list was published with the top 100 best-selling books. The list ranges from fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, etc. However, nonfiction seemed the most prevalent. 

Take a look for yourself!

Excluding children's books, the top ten best-sellers of 2021 were:

1. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
2. American Marxism by Mark R. Levin
3. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz
4. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
5. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
6. The Boy, the Mole, and the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
7. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
8. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
9. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
10. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Have you read any on the list? Do any of these come as a surprise? 

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Quotes 101

Speaking of books, have you ever referenced a quote from one in an article? Or included a quote from a famous person?

Using direct quotes can give your article extra credibility and are a fun way to display powerful words of wisdom. 

There are three ways to correctly format quotes in articles:

1. Use a callout capsule: Find the callout capsule in the right-hand side toolbar under the supplementary section. Select "quote" from the callout type and insert your quote in the text section. Then add the quote author at the bottom in the appropriate section. 
2. Use the quote feature in a text capsule: In a standard text capsule, find the quotation marks next to the paragraph format selector. After clicking the quotation marks, you'll notice the margins are moved towards the middle of the capsule. Here you can insert the quote, and it will appear spaced from the remaining text. 
3. Display the quotes in bullets in a text capsule: If you have an article that uses many quotes, you can arrange the quotes in a text capsule and organize them with the bullets feature. This arrangement is best used in articles with greeting card messages or related content. 

Quote Attribution

Once you've chosen your visual quote format, don't forget to attribute it correctly. On HubPages articles, we use an em dash when attributing quotes. The em dash differs from the regular dash (-) found on the keyboard. 

Here's a correct em dash example:

"Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." 

—Babe Ruth

You can either copy and paste an em dash from a quick Google search or press option + shift + minus. 

The more you know!

Stephen Tomkinson, From Valencia, 11 Fans, 8 Hubs, Joined 3 weeks ago

Insatiable Curiosity

Our HubPages fresh face of the week is Stephen Tomkinson! Stephen has "an insatiable curiosity about the world and our place within it." He studied philosophy at university and loves to learn. Check out his enlightening articles about identity politics, the James Webb telescope, and a reading of "Wasteland" by T.S. Eliot. 

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