"does YA equal bad literature?"

well in light of this conversation I'd like to suggest the sci-fi novel Ariel a fun little book(a brisk 400 pages) that combines apocalyptic fiction with fantasy with a writing style similar to Cormic McCarthy. If you don't mind teenage protagonists it's quite an enjoyable book with an audiobook available on audible.com along with it's arguably superior sequel Elegy Beach(written over a decade after the first, it's the best kind of sequel). Good books for a plane ride.

(feel free to tell me that I have no taste in a reply, I did say yes to Twister after all or was that Bill Pullman? I forgot.)