 Data courtesy of Association of American Publishers | At the start of the pandemic, publishers stared into the abyss. With bookstores closed, supply lines clogged and readers obsessed with disaster news, the industry needed to be intubated. "There was a spiral," says Maria Pallante, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers. "People were extremely concerned about whether the industry was going to be able to survive." But a funny thing happened on the way to extinction. Readers turned to books despite the distractions, and publishers applied for business protection to keep warehouses open and trucks running. That fast response helped engineer a turnaround. And new data released by the AAP show that interest in books increased through last year. Consumer book sales were up almost 12 percent during 2021 compared to 2020. That includes an 11 percent rise for hardback revenues and an almost 19 percent rise for paperbacks. Even the drop-off in commuting couldn't depress sales of downloaded audiobooks, which rose more than 13 percent. E-books — once the presumed slayer of physical books — dropped almost 5 percent in 2021. That preference for paper over electrons has been true for a while, Pallante says. "People just really like books," she notes. "People say, 'I like the smell of my books. I like to look at them. I like to hold them. I like to purchase them, own them and hand them to family members." Pallante admits that nobody knows exactly what's next for publishing, but she and the folks she represents are optimistic — and proud. "We fundamentally believe that publishing is connected to democracy and that democracy is the future." Apropos of nothing, former Trump Whisperer Kellyanne Conway announced yesterday that she'll publish her memoir, "Here's the Deal," on May 24. It's being released by Threshold Editions, the Proud Boy brother-in-law in the Simon & Schuster family. The publisher describes Conway as "untouched by any of the major scandals or investigations of the administration," which we'll take as her memoir's first alternative fact.  Courtesy of Heroes of Liberty Inc. | "Woke publishers . . . sell low-quality books with the mission to indoctrinate our kids into being drones." That alarming revelation comes from conservative commentator Bethany Mandel. But don't worry, she has the "antidote" to all that Marxist ideology slithering into our schools. Mandel is the editor of a new line of children's books called "Heroes of Liberty." These hagiographies about important Americans provide concerned parents "with a wholesome patriotic alternative to read with their children." I was hoping for something like, "If the Very Hungry Caterpillar wants to eat, he should get a job!" But these books take a more sober approach. The first four volumes cover Ronald Reagan, Amy Coney Barrett, Thomas Sowell and John Wayne. They're being sold online for $25 a piece, or $16.50 a month if you subscribe for a year (details). The next one will be on Alexander Hamilton (not the musical). The books are large, stamped with gold foil titles and filled with colorful illustrations that we might call Early Sears Realism. As promised, the stories are self-consciously designed to emphasize conservative ideals and values. The book about Black libertarian Thomas Sowell explains that the hard-working young man "practiced what he preached. When he was offered a prestigious job just because he was black, he turned it down." (Take that, Clarence Thomas!) Naturally, the narratives are highly selective and wildly romanticized. We learn that John Wayne defended a brave Marine who was being harassed by shameless anti-war protesters. But we don't learn about the Playboy interview in which Wayne said, "I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility." We're told that Amy Coney Barrett answered a lot of difficult questions during her confirmation hearing, and "everyone was very impressed." But weirdly, Donald Trump is erased from this history, while Antonin Scalia gets a two-page spread. In fact, in each of these pious books, it's the strategic omissions — not the angel messages from the Heritage Foundation — that are so fascinating. For instance, after a dramatic retelling of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, the narrator says, "President Reagan made a quick recovery. Thankfully, Agent McCarthy did too." But James Brady, his permanent disability and his lifelong crusade against gun violence are burned entirely away by the ever-rising American dawn. I don't mean to suggest that there's anything uniquely objectionable about the Heroes of Liberty series. Children's books have long been tools of indoctrination. "The New England Primer" taught little 17th-century Puritans, "In Adam's fall / We sinned all." Fun! And in our era, Democratic politicians like Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris have published children's books with all the spontaneity and subversive wit of a Human Resources training video. That's the real problem with these books, from the right and the left. It's not their politics, it's their numbing certainty, which leaves plenty of room for a partisan's self-satisfaction but little for a child's imagination.  Andrew Sean Greer (Photo by Civitella Ranieri); book covers courtesy of Little, Brown | I regularly get notes saying some version of: "That novel you reviewed about the alcoholic who accidentally runs over his own dog sounds deep, but could you suggest a book that's a little sunnier?" These readers have a point. Literary fiction is often grim, and after two years in a pandemic, many of us are craving something more life-affirming, even — dare I say it? — merry. (We need comic novels more than ever. So where are they?) Since it won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018, I've been an evangelist for Andrew Sean Greer's thoroughly delightful "Less." It's about Arthur Less, a lovelorn writer who tries to distract himself from an old beau's wedding by accepting speaking invitations around the world. I tried to read it to my wife, but often I was laughing too hard to speak. Here's the happiest literary news so far in 2022: This fall, Greer will publish a sequel called "Less is Lost." We've got the exclusive cover reveal above. "I had no plan for another novel with Less," Greer tells me, "but I was writing about my country and my place in it. I realized if I didn't laugh I'd cry. I thought, 'If only I already had a hapless character who could bumble his way through.'" Ah-ha! He scrapped the manuscript he was working on and started over with Arthur Less. Greer, who's currently living in Milan, says creating a sequel was great fun. "I got to write about what happens after the happy ending, what happens when you experience your own country as a foreigner, what happens when you are trapped in a van in the desert with a pug. For in the end, aren't we all?"  Levine Querido; Neal Porter Books; Carolrhoda Books; Henry Holt | For children's literature, Monday was the equivalent of the Academy Awards. Because the prizes and honors conferred by the American Library Association will influence teachers, librarians, booksellers and parents for years, this is the country's most influential literary awards ceremony. Many great titles were recognized (list); here are some highlights: - "The Last Cuentista," by Donna Barba Higuera, won the Newbery Medal, which is celebrating its 100th year. Higuera's post-apocalyptic novel for readers 10-14 also won the ALA's Pura Belpré Children's Author Award for its celebration of Latino culture.
- "Watercress," written by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Jason Chin, won the Caldecott Medal for the year's best picture book. "Watercress" is one of The Washington Post's favorite children's books of 2021 (full list).
- "Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre" won two Coretta Scott King Book Awards — one for author Carole Boston Weatherford and one for illustrator Floyd Cooper (Don't miss this presentation on the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre.)
- "Firekeeper's Daughter," by Angeline Boulley, won the Printz Award for excellence in YA literature and the Morris Award for best debut book by a first-time author writing for teens. (Our readers named "Firekeeper's Daughter" one of the top books of 2021 — full list.)
 Bookshop.org | Charlie found a Golden Ticket in a Wonka Bar. If you're lucky, you might find a Golden Bookmark online. And, believe me, that's a lot more valuable than a trip to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. To celebrate its second anniversary, Bookshop.org, the website that supports indie bookstores, is offering one fortunate reader $600 in books every year for the rest of their life. (According to a study in Social Science & Medicine, people who read books tend to live longer, so the Golden Bookmark could be your ticket to more books and immortality!) The grand prize winner will also choose an indie bookstore to receive a $500 donation from Bookshop.org. Five second-place winners will receive $100 to spend at Bookshop.org. The sweepstakes opens today and runs through Feb. 28 (enter here). If one of you wins, you must let me know so I can celebrate your good fortune in this newsletter! As Willy Wonka says, "In your wildest dreams you could not imagine that such things could happen to you." Bookshop.org, which launched in early 2020, provides customizable, profit-sharing web templates for indie bookstores that don't have their own online presence. And sales made directly through Bookshop.org generate money that's split among all member stores. So far, Bookshop.org says it has distributed more than $18 million.  "Ulysses," by James Joyce, published by Shakespeare and Company, 1922 (British Library); Cambridge University Press; Other Press; New Island Books | Years ago, I was invited to the home of the Irish ambassador on Bloomsday, the annual celebration of Leopold Bloom's adventures in "Ulysses." I took my younger daughter along so that I would have somebody to talk to. As we stood in the elegant living room listening to dignitaries read from James Joyce's classic, I felt — as Virginia Woolf once said of it — "puzzled, bored, irritated and disillusioned by a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples." But just as I was plotting a path of escape, my daughter leaned over and whispered, "We have to get a copy of this — it's genius!" I stand corrected. Feb. 2 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Paris edition of "Ulysses," and the world is gearing up for an appropriately orgiastic celebration. If you've always felt intimidated by or hostile toward the 730-page modernist epic that Ezra Pound called "succinct," this is your chance for redemption. - You might start by getting a copy of the gorgeous new edition of "Ulysses" lavishly illustrated by the late Spanish artist Eduardo Arroyo (Other Press). This monumental work features 300 dazzling images — far surpassing Matisse's 1935 edition. (Also, Arroyo actually read "Ulysses"; Matisse never got around to it.) The Other Press version sells for $75, not much for a huge, seven-pound book and far less than the signed first edition that Sotheby's auctioned off this week for $151,200.
- Thornwillow Press has launched an ambitious video podcast involving hundreds of writers and performers reading "Ulysses" from beginning to end. Readers include Stephen Fry, David Mamet, Kathleen Chalfant, Malachy McCourt, Roz Chast, Salman Rushdie and more (watch, listen).
- If you're having trouble keeping up with Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus as they wander around Dublin, consult the new exhibit at the Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif. "Mapping Fiction" (running through May 2) examines "the ways authors and mapmakers have built compelling fictional worlds" (gallery guide). The exhibit includes a first edition of Joyce's novel and maps of Dublin as described in "Ulysses." A conference on "Joycean Cartographies" will take place Feb. 3-4 (stream for free).
- There's a wonderfully illuminating discussion of the novel on BBC's "Open Book" with Irish novelist Colm Tóibín, New Yorker critic Merve Emre and Ireland's ambassador to the U.S., Daniel Mulhall (listen). By the way, Mulhall has just published an introductory guide called "Ulysses: A Reader's Odyssey," and you can follow his tweets about the novel here.
- For a deep dive, listen to "U22: The Centenary Ulysses Podcast," which started last summer. Host Catherine Flynn, author of "The Cambridge Centenary Ulysses," talks with Joyce scholars and fans around the world as they move through the novel episode by episode (listen).
- Philatelist fans of "Ulysses" will want to get the two "Ulysses 100" stamps that will be issued by the Irish postal system on Feb. 2 (order).
- Finally, if this centenary has got your heart going like mad, you'll want to bookmark Ulysses100, a website designed by the Museum of Literature Ireland to curate "Ulysses" events around the world. And if you're lucky enough to be in Dublin next week, you can see the museum's new Joyce exhibit, which includes copy No. 1 of "Ulysses" and a number of Joyce's original notebooks. "Yes I said yes I will Yes."
 Toni Morrison (Photo courtesy of Knopf); Knopf | "Recitatif" is the only short story that Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison ever published. It's about two women — one Black, one White — who meet as children when they're temporarily placed in a state orphanage. Over the following decades, Twyla and Roberta meet again several times by chance, including once on opposite sides of a protest over school busing. Morrison published "Recitatif" in 1983, the same year President Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. America was a very different country four decades ago, of course, but something Morrison purposely omitted makes her story strikingly relevant today. We can never tell definitively which woman is White and which is Black. It shouldn't matter, but it does. The story constantly tempts us to test our racial attitudes about clothing, food, hair, even money. Morrison called "Recitatif" "an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial." This is the perfect text for a country still vigorously debating the relevance of race. On Monday, the Supreme Court announced it will reexamine if universities should consider an applicant's race or, in Morrison's words, "remove all racial codes." And the midterm elections are likely to involve inflamed arguments about how race should play into hiring decisions, voting rights and even the study of history. "Recitatif" has just been republished as a little hardback book. Normally, I'm dismissive of these slim productions — $16 for one short story? But the singular quality of this story makes it worthwhile, especially because the book contains a long, thoughtful introduction by Zadie Smith, who says, rightly, that "Recitatif" should sit alongside "Bartleby, the Scrivener" and "The Lottery" "as a perfect — and perfectly American — tale." My only complaint is that Morrison's story should come before Smith's illuminating discussion, which provides a close reading and examines the way racial categories function in our allegedly post-racial culture. "What is essentially black or white about Twyla and Roberta I believe we bring to 'Recitatif' ourselves," Smith writes. She goes on to note that Morrison called this story "an experiment" deliberately. "The subject of the experiment is the reader."  Margaret Atwood stamps were issued by Canada Post on Nov. 25, 2021. (© Canada Post Corporation) | Margaret Atwood jokes that she's a witch, but that may actually be the best explanation of her magic. Now 82 and bearing enough literary awards to cramp a lesser writer into a posture of scoliotic pomposity, Atwood remains the wittiest and sharpest author you'll hear. Talking with her is like playing ping-pong with a bird of prey. You can enjoy her banter for a full hour on the latest episode of "The Biblio File" podcast hosted by fellow Canadian Nigel Beale (listen). Their conversation ricochets from Dante to pornography, to saving the planet to preparing hot dogs. Although she's been world-famous for decades, Atwood can still remember living in a rooming-house and washing her dishes in a shared bathroom tub. Even when she started to get attention, it wasn't glamorous. "The lowest point," she says, "was when I had to go on daytime television after two people who had just been demonstrating a colostomy bag. I thought, I cannot compete with this." Most of "The Biblio File" conversation bounces around the role of the writer and the requirements for good writing. "There is no formula," Atwood insists, "but if you're writing a murder mystery, my advice to you is move the corpse up towards the front." Beale has been interviewing authors for at least 10 years. Turning the table around for a moment, Atwood asks him, "How many of the writers that you talked to have been super smart and funny? Tell the truth." "Well," he says, "none of them has been as smart and funny as you." "Oh," she laughs, "that is shameless." Throughout the pandemic, librarians have been dynamic and creative public servants. During the BLM protests, they curated reading lists to broaden and deepen the debate. When the economy cratered, they helped people look for jobs. As covid spread, they distributed protective equipment and tests. Librarians did all this and more on top of their regular work. The Urban Libraries Council recently honored 10 public libraries for innovative programs that are increasing the accessibility of library services. This year's awards focused on programs advancing racial and social equity. The San Antonio Public Library was honored for working with local advocacy organizations to develop an "enhanced library card" that contains a person's name, picture and other personal information. The card can be used by new immigrants, formerly incarcerated people and others who have trouble verifying their identity for employment, government services and retail stores. The Nashville Public Library helped develop a program that teaches seniors how to access telehealth services. And in San Jose, librarians helped licensed caregivers connect with one another, attain professional development and provide high-quality learning experiences for children. Keep all this in mind when your town votes on library funding. Libraries are knowledge centers providing access to all kinds of documents and information that people need to live. For more details about this year's Innovations Initiative awards and honorable mentions, click here.  Milkweed Editions | Jennifer Huang's debut collection, "Return Flight," won the Ballard Spahr Prize, which honors the year's best collection by a poet from the upper Midwest. The prize comes with $10,000 and a publishing contract with Milkweed Editions. I love the complicated emotional range Huang conveys in this deceptively delicate poem. On Days I Stay with My Father We walk the dog in circles,
let him play and roam
the tennis courts, though the sign says no dogs allowed.
I can never remember your face
because I was often looking at the ground when you yelled
so bright. But today, at the courts,
I carry my gaze to see you: soft wrinkles and eyes like flame
asking for forgiveness. Or
perhaps, I, wanting. We laugh at the dog prancing, and I want
to let our laughter mean just that—
a laugh. The past is faraway though sometimes it stalks close.
The dog rolls over, lets the sun
touch his belly—then us. From "Return Flight," by Jennifer Huang (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2022 Copyright © 2022 by Jennifer Huang). Reprinted with permission from Milkweed Editions.  ©2015-2022 Exploding Kittens Inc. | If you're a Wordle fan, you need "A Little Wordy." It's a two-player game from those clever folks at Exploding Kittens. A Book Club newsletter reader named Rachel Courtney kindly told me about it last week, and I instantly bought a copy at Target (more information, $14.99). "A Little Wordy" starts with a touch of Scrabble; then you try to guess your opponent's word by asking strategic clues like "What does it rhyme with?" or "What's the last letter?" As with every Exploding Kittens game, the design is equally silly and cerebral. (Dawn and I also love their "Poetry for Neanderthals.") One more thing: Yesterday afternoon, the PTA gave every teacher and staff member at Dawn's school a dinner for four to take home. I'm blown away by that kind of ambitious thoughtfulness and generosity. See you next week. Send any questions or comments about our book coverage to ron.charles@washpost.com. You can read last week's issue here. And if you know friends who might enjoy this newsletter, please forward it to them and remind them it's free! To subscribe, click here.
Interested in advertising in our bookish newsletter? Contact Michael King at michael.king@washpost.com. | 
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