what is literature littered with today?

[cacian]

Well, if an airplane novel is what one reads on an airplane and a beach novel is what one reads on the beach, that could be anything. Even Finnegans Wake. I guess it has to be a bestseller, though.

I noticed the "lost-brains-episode".

funny you mention aeroplane
i once left a really good book in the aircraft
i had not finish it
so wnt and bought a second copy it was that good
i guess it simply flew somehwere else
and what was funny it was titled speed
may be it liked being in the air haha

[YesNo]

I hate leaving things on an airplane, not that I've ever done that, but I check and double check just like when I leave a hotel room.

Usually what I read on a plane is on my computer or tablet so I can always get that back, but I would hate to leave the tablet on the plane.

Sometimes I'll watch a movie. I guess those would be airplane movies. So here is my stab at some definitions:

Airplane novel: a novel you read on the airplane
Beach novel: a novel you read on the beach
Literary novel: (thanks to Wolf Larsen's observation) a novel you read when you want to go to sleep

[Pompey Bum]

Airplane novel: a book with a great take off, a boring middle, and (hopefully) a smooth ending.

Beach novel: a book read on a doomed flight.

Literary novel: puts you to sleep, but oh the dreams!

[YesNo]

Ah, those are better definitions, Pompey Bum, and the last one hints at a possibly deeper meaning behind WolfLarsen's definition.

[Bartlebooth]

Airplane novel: a novel you read on the airplane
Beach novel: a novel you read on the beach
Literary novel: (thanks to Wolf Larsen's observation) a novel you read when you want to go to sleep

I'm not sure if this is completely accurate, but I've always thought that the terms airplane and beach novel were somewhat derogatory. While you could technically read something like Finnegan's Wake in those situations, I think the term has the connotation that the novel is just something picked up to pass the time. They are lengthy enough to last for a long trip and are generally fast-paced, but lack substance or literary value. Of course, this is just the way people have used the terms around me, so maybe my definition is a little narrow.

[YesNo]

Yes, the derogatory part of the word needs to be included. Would "bestseller" work? Is "literary value" determined by how far away the book is from being a bestseller?

[WolfLarsen]

Warning: if you are a Puritan and are against sex please stop reading. Thank you.

Wouldn't it be fun to smash the literary world into pieces?

Well, we just need an excuse!

In place of the literary world we could have a bunch of Baroque whorehouses all painted with Cubist nudes by the ghost of Picasso.

[AuntShecky]

I Heart the Literary World!
I would heart it even more if it let me in.

[YesNo]

I'd settle for hearting the money I could make if I wrote a bestseller, but that would mean I'd have to get off my butt and write something.

It's not that I want or need the money itself. I just have no other standard by which to judge if something is good enough except for the ka-ching of the cash register.

[WolfLarsen]

Put some whipped cream all over the literary world. Put a strawberry on top. And then eat it.

Or maybe don't eat it. Might be nasty.

Most of the literary world is like Denny's. Not nasty. Comfort food.

[YesNo]

I usually skip the Denny's type of places and go for the side street, far-from-the-interstate, greasy spoons as long as I see other customers in the cafe. The existence of clientele reassure me that I should survive the experience. The cooking in these places can be very creative.

To get back to the OP: what IS literature littered with today? I have time to read only a few books a year. And they haven't all been recently written.