Or, Joshi reads contemporary pop fiction so you don't have to. S.T. Joshi is probably never going to win any rewards for Mrs. Congeniality, but in these days of faux-populists, there's something refreshing about his unabashed elitism, in part because he balances it with a relatively open mind.

This work covers all of the modern genres of popular fiction, their origins, and their most notable practitioners (from Danielle Steel to Dan Brown to James Patterson to Dean Koontz, etc.). Though he largely confirms that much of this fiction is pretty poor--plot-driven, sensationalist, full of cardboard characters--he does discover some merit in some of the works.

I confess I don't always agree with Joshi. I think his reaction to Stephen King's works, though accurate in some respects, sheds more heat than light. It still makes for an interesting and thought-provoking reading, which gives you a sense of the state of modern popular fiction. ( )