Charles McGrath, editor of the New York Times Book Review, said he was forced to cut two pages earlier this year because, during the current advertising slump, his section was "expected to do its fair share of belt-tightening along with the other Sunday sections," including Arts and Leisure, Week in Review and the magazine.

Would the New York Times consider saving money by getting rid of the stand-alone book section and folding it into the rest of the Sunday package as other papers have done? "That would never happen at this paper," said McGrath, who oversees a staff of eight editors. "There has been a historical commitment from the publisher and newsroom to support us. Books are part of culture, and culture is part of the news. So we cover books just as intently as we cover sports or theater or anything else."

Wasserman, who has been the Los Angeles Times book editor for nearly five years, sounded a similar chord. "I'm proud to report that I'm fortunate to work for men and women of vision. They understand quality and excellence in reporting and know that includes a vibrant book section. They know that an engaging book section raises the journalistic stakes for the city, the newspaper and readers."

After listening to numerous journalists who have practically apologized for wanting to cover books in their papers, and paranoid editors who won't dare speak on the record about their bosses' real view of books, McGrath's and Wasserman's self-assured comments sound refreshingly civilized.

As, in fact, does San Francisco Chronicle senior editor Zacchino. After 31 years at the Los Angeles Times, where she was the one to hire Wasserman, Zacchino arrived at the Chronicle a few months ago, only to be thrust into the role of flak catcher for the cancellation of the Book Review. In Los Angeles, Zacchino, on behalf of the Times, started an annual weekend book festival that consistently draws over 100,000 people. Now at the Chronicle, she plans to produce a similar book fair for Bay Area readers. She is also a driving force inside the Chronicle to revive more Sunday book reviews, either in a new tabloid or in a separate broadsheet adjacent to the opinion pages. The voices of 400 readers, she said, were definitely heard: "So there's a good possibility we will restore some of the reviews."

Unfortunately, Zacchino's views are not typical of newsroom czars. Book criticism is an increasingly endangered beat in a chain-dominated newspaper industry now permanently fixated on the bottom line. Its pleasures are too quirky and cerebral to easily fit newspapers' marketing formulas. Books are the fountainhead of our culture, the idea and entertainment source that stimulates debates on everything from the Burr-Hamilton duel to the most riveting home run. But, with few exceptions, newspapers treat book criticism as filler, good for a few column inches when the Backstreet Boys review runs short. "It's horrible," said Layton. "And don't expect newspapers to stop dumbing themselves down. As it is, they no longer connect us to the world, only to a shadow of it."

But there is a bright side. As newspapers lose their most literate customers and recede further into cultural irrelevance, we can spend more time in the one place where the world does live radiantly in words. You got it: We can read a book.

Maya Angelou reads from "The Heart of a Woman"