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SALT LAKE CITY — Amazon.com has just ranked Salt Lake City as one of the top 10 "most well-read" cities in America.
The Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities list was released earlier this week, but the city's No. 7 ranking came as no surprise to Utah book lovers.
As one of the most literate cities, you'll be interested in our reading pilot program Project Tutor. In a special report, we'll show you five schools and 100 tutors with one goal: help struggling readers. That's Thursday night on KSL 5 News at 6:30.
The Salt Lake City Main Library lends out an average 20 books per person — that's more than double the national average. [CLICK HERE for more Utah reading stats]
"I belong to several book clubs in the city. I have many friends that love to read, and we collect books; so I'm not surprised at all," said Loren Auginaga.
Amazon.com compiled its list based on sales data for books, e-books, magazines and newspapers per capita.
Utah ranks No. 2 in the country for using eBooks, and Utah libraries rank third in the nation for children's items borrowed per capita.
"Our research shows children who have access to books and have books in their home before the age of 5, have a higher likelihood of being lifelong readers and are more successful in schools," said Julianne Hancock, with the Salt Lake City Library.
Cambridge, Mass., home of Harvard and MIT ranked top of the list.
Email: dwimmer@ksl.com
