New year's greetings from what used to be known as America's most literate city. Sadly, Seattle fell to No. 2 in the latest annual survey, sandwiched by the Twin Cities, with Minneapolis (home to our distributor, Consortium) slipping into first place and St. Paul following in third.

However, all is not lost for Seattle. It moved into first on the list of most bookstores per 10,000 people and was declared the most (over?) educated city in another ranking. (Glad to know that barista serving my tall americano has a master's in psychology.)

I was glad to see my birthplace, Cleveland, take No. 1 in the library category, and see that Newark held the top spot in newspaper circulation. It just goes to show that there is more life in cities facing tough times than some of us living in boomtowns like Seattle care to realize.

Wherever you live, happy reading in 2008.