July 23, 2004

Bookworms in the Big Apple

By SARA LIPKA

A survey released this month showed a drastic decline in American readers, but Larry A. Portzline keeps finding plenty. And they are willing to board a bus at 5 a.m. and brave a five-hour ride just to visit a bookstore.

Mr. Portzline, who is taking time off from teaching writing at Harrisburg Area Community College, has led six sold-out bookstore road trips since last summer, when he started Bookstore Tourism, which he describes as a "grass-roots campaign to promote and support