If Jeffrey Trachtenberg's Wall Street Journal report is accurate, that would mean the Times decided to face the critical music and launch the scaled-back Book Review before the big LAT Festival of Books in late April. He also says the combined books and Current section tabloid will run just twelve pages, an even smaller commitment than I had heard. It "will appear with the thinner Saturday paper, which will make it not only stand out more but also save money on printing costs because circulation is lower that day than on Sunday," says the WSJ publishing reporter. This will rankle: The Tribune in Chicago still has a stand-alone book section, and the managing editor for features, Jim Warren, says "a book-review section is a small but important symbol of the support of literacy." Haven't heard a peep of that sentiment yet from the Tribune lieutenants who run the Times. The WSJ story is mostly about the failure of publishers to support book sections.

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