Reading's fundamental decline: The St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press talks to exhibitors at the 14th annual Twin Cities Book Fair about the NEA's report on the widespread decline of reading:

"'I'm a little more sanguine than most of these people,' Rob Rulon-Miller, owner of a St. Paul bookstore bearing his name, said as he watched shoppers browse through the used and rare books at the fair. 'There's a new kind of literacy these days. It's largely online.

"'You have to be a reader to go online,' Rulon-Miller said. 'I think people read more than ever.'

"Thomas Stransky, owner of Midway Used & Rare Books in St. Paul, isn't so sure all those computer users are reading, however. He suspects a lot of potential young readers are playing computer games instead.

"Stransky sells comic books, and when he went into the business 24 years ago, a lot of kids who read comics went on to become serious readers.

"'Now we don't have that new generation of readers coming up,' he said."