popular fiction
Books everyone reads
Popular fiction is literature written primarily to entertain a broad audience rather than to achieve literary prestige.
The term encompasses genres like romance, mystery, thriller, science fiction, and horror—books that sell in large numbers and follow recognizable conventions.
The distinction from "literary fiction" is fuzzy and often snobbish, since many works cross over: Dickens wrote popular fiction that's now considered classic literature.
- yellowbackCheap sensational novel
- novellasMid-length fictional works
- romanceLove and its excitement
- thrillerSuspense-driven narrative genre
- true crimeGenre covering actual offenses
mystery · guilty pleasure · guilty pleasures · fanfiction · dime novel · horror · young adult · fan communities · book series · e-books · audiobooks · bestsellers · page turner · escapism · adult · fantasy · literary adaptations · short stories
- fictionnovel, novels, novella, novellas, short story
- genresaction, comedy, fantasy, horror, documentary
- bestsellersbestsellers, bestseller list, bestseller lists, chart-toppers, blockbusters
- middlebrowbestseller, mass-market, coffee table book, airport novel, digest
- middlebrow culturebook clubs, PBS, NPR, museum gift shops, bestsellers
- Japanese LiteratureNorwegian Wood, Rashomon, Confessions, Kappa, Genji
popular fictionliterary fiction
Prose emphasizing craft and depth
experimental fiction · belles-lettres · modernist literature · postmodern fiction · literary works
popular fictionnonfiction
Literature about real events
academic writing · scholarly works · journalism · essays · reportage
popular, fiction, unpopular, popularity, populace, popularly, popularized, popularizing, popularization