Books like

Books like Lord of the Flies

12 books with a reading profile close to Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

  1. 1 The Baron in the Trees

    The Baron in the Trees

    by Italo Calvino

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    In 1767, twelve-year-old Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, a young nobleman in Liguria, climbs a tree after a quarrel at dinner, and vows never to come down.

  2. 2 The Picture of Dorian Gray Illustrated

    The Picture of Dorian Gray Illustrated

    by Oscar Wilde

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    In Victorian London, the young Dorian Gray sits for a portrait by artist Basil Hallward, who captures the youth's extraordinary beauty on canvas.

  3. 3 The Plague

    The Plague

    by Albert Camus

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    Set in the coastal city of Oran, the narrative begins when rats emerge from the shadows to die in the streets, signaling an outbreak of bubonic plague.

  4. 4 The Bridge of San Luis Rey

    The Bridge of San Luis Rey

    by Thornton Wilder

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    In 1714, a rope bridge in Peru collapses, sending five travelers to their deaths in the chasm below.

  5. 5 Wise Blood

    Wise Blood

    by Flannery O'Connor

    Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, narrative

    Hazel Motes returns from war to a rural Tennessee landscape and establishes the Church Without Christ.

  6. 6 The Great Divorce

    The Great Divorce

    by C.S. Lewis

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    A narrator boards a flying bus in a grey, rainy city and travels to the foothills of Heaven.

  7. 7 East of Eden

    East of Eden

    by John Steinbeck

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    Set in the Salinas Valley between the Civil War and World War I, the narrative tracks the interconnected fates of the Trask and Hamilton families.

  8. 8 Zorba the Greek

    Zorba the Greek

    by Nikos Kazantzakis

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    Set in rural Crete, the narrative follows an unnamed intellectual who attempts to reopen a lignite mine while escaping his bookish existence.

  9. 9 The History of the Valorous and Witty Knight-Errant Don Quixote of the Mancha

    The History of the Valorous and Witty Knight-Errant Don Quixote of the Mancha

    by Thomas Shelton, Charles-Antoine Coypel

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    This massive four-volume set reproduces the classic narrative of Alonso Quijano, a country gentleman who loses his mind from reading romances.

  10. 10 Narcissus and Goldmund

    Narcissus and Goldmund

    by Hermann Hesse

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    Set in medieval Germany, the novel follows two antithetical men who begin as student and teacher at Mariabronn monastery.

  11. 11 Candide

    Candide

    by Voltaire

    Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, narrative

    Candide follows a young man ejected from a German castle after falling in love with the Baron’s daughter, Cunégonde.

  12. 12 Silence

    Silence

    by Shūsaku Endō

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

    In seventeenth-century Japan, Father Sebastião Rodrigues, a Portuguese Jesuit, enters the country secretly to locate his former mentor, Cristóvão Ferreira, who reportedly committed apostasy under torture.

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