USA Today Book Section

While I was on vacation for the last 2 weeks traveling the East Coast, I stayed at many different hotels and had a lot more contact with the USA Today than I normally do. I have to say, I was quite impressed with their book coverage.

I am still a newspaper reader and we get the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times delivered to our home each and every day, and while the Times book section is still going strong, the Tribune has watered down their coverage so much in print that you really can only access their full book coverage content online.

Newspapers all over the country have been cutting their book coverage left and right, but not the USA Today. While I was on vacation I read reviews on literary fiction, hot new titles, and genre books. I read interviews with authors and commentary on book trends. All in print...in a newspaper, not on a computer screen! I was pleasantly surprised.

I used to only check the USA Today's book pages for their wonderful top 150 bestseller list, which is the only bestseller list which combines all books. Fiction, nonfiction, children, adult, paperback and hard cover are all on one list. It is a great way to see what books are selling the most. Take a look for yourself, it it s quite enlightening. You will see many genre fiction, mass market paperbacks way before you get to The Help.

But thanks to vacation and the ubiquity of the USA Today in America's hotels and motels, I now know The USA Today's book section is much more than the bestseller list.  Although I will not begin subscribing to the newspaper, I will regularly check their book page from now on. Check it out for yourself.

Thanks to their editors for continuing to care about books.