What cities are the best for book lovers? Apparently Pensacola is one of them.

When you think of Pensacola, FL, you don't usually think of a hotbed of literary action. Let's assume they just have supper clubs run by people named Louanne and Karen where they comb the latest Jodi Picoult book.

According to ApartmentGuide.com, Pensacola lands at #3 on their top ten list for best cities for book lovers.

The website's criteria was fairly straightforward. They looked at 14,000 cities that had at least one bookstore or library of any sort. Then, they eliminated any city that didn't have at least 50,000 people. That left the site with 764 cities. They then calculated the ratio per 100,000 citizens to figure out the most book-saturated cities.

The Top Ten:

1.)  Cambridge, MA

2.)  Berkeley, CA

3.)  Pensacola, FL

4.)  Ann Arbor, MI

5.)  Chapel Hill, NC

6.)  Santa Fe, NM

7.)  Marietta, GA

8.)  Saint Louis, MO

9.)  Cincinnati, OH

10.)  Birmingham, AL

Some of these cities are understandable as towns with a massive university as its backbone (Chapel Hill, Ann Arbor). While Berkeley is a mix of a college enclave and former hippie extension of San Francisco.

And ApartmentGuide.com says about Cambridge:

"Make no mistake, in the end, Cambridge is the ultimate high-end university town. Smart people matriculate here and smart people live here. And as the best city in America for booklovers, that shouldn't change any time soon."

You probably envision walking the streets of Cambridge and seeing small and cozy mom and pop bookstores holding casual readings with new authors--some tea and cookies in the corner, while a cat yawns from a nap in a window. Later, you might dream of passing austere universities like Harvard and MIT, laced in ivy and dappled in sunlight, like a Renoir painting come to life.

As someone who was born in Cambridge (and raised in the adjacent city), all I can say is...yeah--no. Smart people don't matriculate in Cambridge. Well-connected and well-to-do people do. Not smart people.

There's a difference.

As for Pensacola, don't underestimate the power of Louanne's homemade green bean casserole and a good book.



Sure, this sort of list doesn't include book clubs or writing circles, but have you ever been to a book club or writing circle? At least 75% of those people potentially have a restraining order against them.