Most well-read cities in U.S.

[sparrowsong]

(CNN) -- Virginia is for lovers, so the slogan goes -- but more specifically, it seems to be the state many book-lovers call home.

Amazon.com customers in Alexandria, Virginia, bought the most books, magazines and newspapers in the past year, making it the most well-read city in America on a per capita basis, according to rankings from the popular e-commerce website. Two other Virginia cities were in the top 20: Arlington ranked seventh and Richmond 20th.

Titles from the romance category were the most popular among Alexandrians, Amazon said in a statement announcing its second annual list of Most Well-Read Cities.

The second most well-read city with more than 100,000 residents was Cambridge, Massachusetts. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Amazon customers in the home of Harvard and MIT bought the most books in the business and investing category.

The list is full of university cities, like Berkeley, California, which came in third, with purchases of travel books at the top of customers' lists. Other academic hubs that made the cut are Ann Arbor, Michigan (No. 4), Boulder, Colorado (No. 5), Gainesville, Florida (No. 8) and Columbia, South Carolina (No. 15).

The rankings were determined by compiling the number of books, magazines and newspapers bought by Amazon customers in both print and Kindle format since June 1, 2011, and dividing that number by the city's population to determine the number of units sold on a per-capita basis, Amazon said. The formula explains why some of the nation's largest cities, like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, did not make the list, while cities that don't normally appear on top-20 lists did.

"It's great to see that we are truly a nation of readers, with representation on this list from every region of the country," Chris Schluep, Amazon.com's senior editor of books, said in a statement.

The complete list:

1. Alexandria, Virginia

2. Cambridge, Massachusetts

3. Berkeley, California

4. Ann Arbor, Michigan

5. Boulder, Colorado :Y:

6. Miami, Florida

7. Arlington, Virginia

8. Gainesville, Florida

9. Washington, D.C.

10. Salt Lake City, Utah

11. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

12. Knoxville, Tennessee

13. Seattle, Washington

14. Orlando, Florida

15. Columbia, South Carolina

16. Bellevue, Washington

17. Cincinnati, Ohio

18. St. Louis, Missouri

19. Atlanta, Georgia

20. Richmond, Virginia

[lemondrop]

It's biased! They only used kindle.

This is really interesting. I'm impressed by the geographic diversity on the list.

[aurora]

I wonder how use of Amazon statistics only biases the statistics? I know it's nearly ubiquitous, but I wonder if some cities with strong local business practices have lower Amazon/Kindle use compared to those who won. I don't live there, but Portland, OR comes to mind since nearly everyone I know there talks about their huge fancy book store (I can't even remember the name).

[lemondrop]

May 16, 2012 16:42:29 GMT -5 aurora said:

I wonder how use of Amazon statistics only biases the statistics? I know it's nearly ubiquitous, but I wonder if some cities with strong local business practices have lower Amazon/Kindle use compared to those who won. I don't live there, but Portland, OR comes to mind since nearly everyone I know there talks about their huge fancy book store (I can't even remember the name).

Yes, I absolutely agree about places with strong local business advocates. Portland is, I think, also highly educated and it would be interesting to see.

I also think it's a bit biased to use only kindle statistics when it's not the only e-reader.

[imoan]

Damn it, Connecticut! Get your shit together!

[MissusTexas]

I wish I could say that I'm surprised there isn't a Texas city on the list

[sparrowsong]

May 16, 2012 16:42:29 GMT -5 aurora said:

I wonder how use of Amazon statistics only biases the statistics? I know it's nearly ubiquitous, but I wonder if some cities with strong local business practices have lower Amazon/Kindle use compared to those who won. I don't live there, but Portland, OR comes to mind since nearly everyone I know there talks about their huge fancy book store (I can't even remember the name).

Powell's

Portland is also very young and tech-friendly though. I'm not sure who would win out - the hipsters with ereaders, or the local-business purists.

[humpty]

I was going to say Powell's! I loved that bookstore, I could wander around there all day. I really liked that they sold new and used books.

[chicacocodrilo]

May 17, 2012 13:49:20 GMT -5 c7 said:

It's funny that Alexandria, VA and Washington, DC are in in the top 10.

This week is Power Player week on Jeopardy, where the contestants are all Beltway Power Players (Robert Gibbs, Chris Matthews, Anderson Cooper, etc.) One of the categories was "NYT Best Sellers" and I was shocked how poorly the contestants did in that category! I got the entire category correct from my couch. I think they answered one question correctly.

Shocking! Or maybe they read more highbrow stuff than NYT best sellers LOL.

Well, that's the political scene. But DC has a powerful literary scene that people tend to forget about--Politics and Prose, the National Book Festival, Folger Shakespeare Library, PEN/Faulker Foundation, the Bethesda Writer's Center and a lot more. I volunteer for a new-ish online lit magazine here and I've met a ton of authors, published and unpublished, who form a really vibrant community. It's great to be a part of it, they're so passionate about books. This weekend, Gaithersburg is hosting its third annual book festival, can't wait to go!

I will say, though, you've got to look for it--I was here five years before I started getting involved in it all!

[bookwormjen]

May 16, 2012 16:49:25 GMT -5 MissusTexas said:

I wish I could say that I'm surprised there isn't a Texas city on the list

I hear ya; I don't see tons of readers here. But then, Knoxville is on the list, and I didn't even know people in Tennessee were literate. I'm kidding, I'm kidding!