The Book Review, from coast to coast

Re “Misreading readers,” Opinion, April 29

Friends from the East Coast occasionally ask me about the differences in the intellectual level and interests of New Yorkers and Angelenos.

I have always told them that they could easily find that out themselves by buying one copy each of the Sunday edition of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, pull out the Book Review sections, lay them side by side -- and the answer will be instantly obvious.

BARBARA MARCUS

Beverly Hills

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As a newly arrived returnee to my native state after 19 years in the Washington area, one thing I really miss is the Washington Post’s Book World. I arrived in California just as The Times’ Book Review was truncated and combined with the Opinion section.

I have a radical idea: Why don’t the Washington Post and The Times find a way to put out a collaborative book review section? The Post has tremendous strength in politics and history, and The Times has strength in the arts and letters that comes with being in Los Angeles.

A combined publication would be the best of both worlds. It would be eagerly received by readers in both areas.

THE REV. CHRIS MILLER

Camarillo