If this isn't a case of déjà vu all over again, I don't know what is. The announcement last week that the Hartford Courant is laying off its books editor and that the Los Angeles Times will no longer publish a freestanding Sunday book review evoked a reaction that was more than a little familiar. In fact, it was identical to how the book world responded a year ago to the news of changes at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other papers: it's the death of intelligent criticism! It's the death of the book business! Or worse yet, proof that the book business is already, if not dead, well on its way out.

Yes, there has been, understandably, plenty of wailing. “I have been extremely anguished about this,” said David L. Ulin, the longtime L.A. Times contributor who took over the L.A. Times Book Review in October 2005 and who will continue to edit the newspaper's new book section. “WILL THE LAST BOOK REVIEW EDITOR TURN OUT THE LIGHTS?” read the scary headline atop postings on the NBCC site last week. As for me, well, the thought of any journalist—bookish or not—out of work makes me very nervous (and not just because it raises the question, “When me?”); any reduction in coverage of books that matter is particularly hard to swallow.