Concerns in literature

What are the concerns in literature as your understand those concerns today?

I think one of the concerns is dealing with the breadth of information and sheer amount of words out there. I mean, I find it difficult to navigate my way through the new releases, best sellers, magazine's lists, and books nominated and/or awarded prizes. Plus, there are a lot of books that aren't in those above mentioned lists that have been compiled by someone. Books from the past, obscure books, limited books, controversial books... I think my concern is about the fact that in literature today, there is a lot of quantity - but is there as much quality, too?

To be honest, there are so many books out there that have been painstakingly written and edited and finally published that are, to be blunt, trash. Certainly "trash" is a relative term, and one that is subjective. But most of readers today would agree that there does exist books that are just not worth one's time and energy. I mean, haven't you ever de-suggested a book to someone - "Oh no, don't read that book"?

However, I think that everyone has their standard and freedom to judge reading material as they see fit, as related to their culture, background, education etc. And who knows, books from the past that were deemed "trash" and not fit to be read can be considered something worthwhile. The Catcher in the Rye was not considered the best in the game - it contained profanity, explores adolescent sexuality, and didn't seem to adhere to any of the 50's literature (compare with Hemingway, Steinbeck...). Today, however, Salinger's book is part of high school curricula in the US and though, still somewhat controversial, is acknowledged if not accepted by critics and writers. 

Another related concern is that, in order to work our way through the thousands of books, we need critics and magazines and TV shows and talk show hosts to tell us what books are "in", or necessary to read as a 21th century educated human being. New books hit the stores monthly and people scramble to get the newest or the latest or the one that's been talked about on TV shows. I suppose it is not all together bad or detrimental that we look to others for our book choices. We don't have much time to spare between our classes, people, and other clubs or activities to peruse covers or analyze themes to see which one would be worth our time and energy. But then again, what we read is what we think about or dwell on - it's what we choose to invest ourselves in, whether for pleasure or learning. Shouldn't we at least put some time into carefully choosing what we read and put into our minds? I guess, for me, making it to a book list of a magazine or something doesn't necessarily make it a "good" book. Another human being (or a group of them) collected the books, judged them in someway, and published a list. I wonder if that person actually reads all those books, analyzed its teleological content and depth of topic...