Lord of the Flies
Author:William Golding
The book is stark, chilling, and tragic in its revelation of what humanity is capable of. A troop of pre-adolescent boys is marooned on an island after their plane crash-lands. Like Robinson Crusoe, the boys adapt to their new environment, do what they can to satisfy their needs and find a way to survive. This seems an apparently straightforward tale of a group of innocent, marooned boys attempting to live until they are rescued. However, there is a dark side to the characters. The shift, perhaps, happens when the boys prop up a pig’s head on sticks and call it the "Lord of the Flies." Or has the evil always lurked within them? Golding’s novel is an allegory of the conflict between civilisation and savagery, between humanity’s higher impulses and its baser ones, and between good and evil. Golding won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.
The Colour of Magic
Author:Terry Pratchett
This is the first book of the Discworld series. Discworld is a flat world set on the back of four elephants that are supported on the back of a giant turtle. Sounds familiar? There is a myth, often attributed to Hinduism, that the world is actually supported by a giant turtle, which is how it stays in place. Discworld is, of course, an allegory of our own world. In The Colour of Magic , the incompetent wizard Rincewind is forced to go on a quest that might have something to do with saving the world, or perhaps just saving his own skin. Does he have a chance, considering he is being controlled by the gods who play dice with human fortunes? The book has been adapted into a TV film, a graphic novel and a computer game.
Gulliver's Travels
Author:Jonathan Swift
Shipwrecked off the cost of Tasmania, Lemuel Gulliver washes up ashore a remote island. When he awakens, Gulliver finds himself tied to the ground and held prisoner by a miniature race of people no bigger than his middle finger. This is only the beginning of his adventure story. In contrast with the tiny Lilliputians, his next voyage finds him in the nation of Giants. He is whisked off by a giant farmer and becomes the main attraction at a curiosity show. A series of events leads to his rescue by the flying island of Laputa following a pirate attack and meeting the immortal and ancient Struldbruggs. In his fourth and final voyage, Gulliver encounters the 'wise and virtuous' Houyhnhnms (a superior race of horses) who rule over depraved humanoids. Swift’s most famous work is popular with both children and adults. Where young readers are fascinated by the fairy tale like allure of pygmies and giants, for adults it offers a deeper appeal. First published anonymously under the title Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts, it's a parody on human nature delivered with a liberal dose of slapstick humour.
