Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

All I can think of is The Pilgrim's Progress. Surely there are other possibilities!

Some classic examples:
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Animal Farm
Lord of the Flies
The Faerie Queene

I would love to find something for this that's more contemporary, though.

Someone is going to have to explain what this is to me.

Oooh I know that you can find allegory in a lot of horror movies, I bet the genres books are no different.

From Merriam-Webster:
1 :the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence

2 :a symbolic representation

Listopia:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

Uh? I'm gonna need some help!

It's like stories that mean something other than at face value. Like a metaphor, only longer because it's narrative. So like how the movie Carrie is an allegory about a young woman facing the physical changes of puberty. Or how the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a Christian allegory where Edmond is Judas and Aslan is Jesus.

This does not look like the type of book I enjoy. Doesn't help that I JUST re-read 1984 & Animal Farm this year, so I can't read them.

Happily, I found Leigh Bardugo's short stories in her Grisha series listed as "allegorical fiction," and there are a few I haven't read: The Too-Clever Fox, The Demon in the Wood, & Little Knife. Sold!!

Many of Italo Calvino's books are probably allegories, then there is The Master and Margarita, of course. I feel like allegories are quite common in Central and Eastern European literature, not sure where I have got that idea, though. But of course dictatorships and other oppressive societies are fertile ground for writing them.

Some possibilities for this challenge:

Lord of the Flies
The Alchemist
The Divine Comedy
Life of Pi
The Phantom Tollbooth

Tytti; so basically we just have to wait a few years and there will be a crapload from American authors 😂

I think Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters is allegorical, and I loved it. I'll ask the English teachers at school, I'm sure they'll have lots of ideas.

Here's a longer Listopia with more entries:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

I thought of another one, for people who like science:
Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics
I recommend this to my students who are interested in quantum mechanics and having their mind stretched.

Chrissy wrote: "I thought of another one, for people who like science:
Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics
I recommend this to my students who are interested in quantum mechanics an..."

Thank you! Allegories are really not my thing, but science is! You just saved me here hehe :)

I have always wanted to read Watership Down so choosing that for this prompt.

Would It count?

Chrissy wrote: "Here's a longer Listopia with more entries:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3..."

It's kind of disheartening to realize every book on this list that I've already read got a DNF, 1 star, or 2 star review. Doesn't bode well for this challenge. I always reserve the right to use 1 children's book per challenge. This may be the right category for that.

If you haven't read Ella minnow pea, check it out. It is quick and easy and not like anything else I've read. Compared to others in these lists it is also fairly light and not a difficult read at all. I loved it!

Looking for ideas, I found this list, with discussion, on Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/7...

In addition to books already suggested in other comments, it mentions:
A Wrinkle in Time
The Phantom Tollbooth
Ender's Game
Moby-Dick or, The Whale
The Lord of the Rings

Uh oh, I think Tolkien would have something to say about that article, because he hated Lord of the Rings being read as an allegory!

In searching around, I found The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, which based on reviews is an allegory for the Westernization of Japan.

That reminded me of Ali and Nino: A Love Story, which is an allegory of the East/West clash in Azerbaijan. The sexism can be a lot to handle, but it was a really educational read about an area I knew almost nothing about.

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly and The Queue look like they might be allegories.

Also, maybe Dune?

The Bees would work for this category.

I'm going to really struggle with this one :(

Chrissy wrote: "I thought of another one, for people who like science:
Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics
I recommend this to my students who are interested in quantum mechanics an..."

Another one that is short and science/perception related is Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott (96 pp). By telling a story in two dimensions, it helps one envision what in the world might a four dimension (or more) world be like.

I guess I am going to pick either of these:
Life of Pi
The Bees
Watership Down
The Alchemist

Found one I own and am excited to read - The Fifth Season. I found an interview with the author where she calls it allegory:)

Oh the Fifth Season is on my TBR!!!!! (Just as soon as I finish her other series!) What is the allegory?

Brandyn wrote: "Found one I own and am excited to read - The Fifth Season. I found an interview with the author where she calls it allegory:)"

Yay! I've really been wanting to read that one!

The Underground Railroad
The Essex Serpent
The Book of the Dun Cow
Lord of the Flies
The Divine Comedy
The Little Prince

I'm going with The Name of the Rose, which I've been wanting to read for a very long time, and was so excited to discover fit this category!

Do we think When We Were Animals counts?

I was looking it up for another challenge, and according to the blurb, The Time Machine is an allegory.

Just looked on Goodreads allegory list and wyrd sisters came up by terry Pratchett so I'll go for this one, read a couple of discworld books this year for the challenge and really enjoyed them

I think I'm going to read High-Rise- I loved the film, but the allegory is very much hitting you in the head with a large board. (And for the book that was turned into a film challenge Im going with Jaws)

I'm going to try The Hike. I adore Drew Magary's yearly send-up of the Williams-Sonoma holiday catalog, and I heard his interview about this book on Professional Book Nerds. Seems right up my alley, and he has said in interviews that it's an allegory for the ambivalent feelings of the business traveler.

Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter is an allegory of the rise of Nazism in 1920s/30s Europe. Honestly, I don't know if the allegorical aspect is all that successful, but it's a great novel.

I would think that zombie and vampire stories are often allegories, no? World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War comes to mind, for example.

Based on the definition above, and some of the other examples, I think David Duchovny's Holy Cow would count very well as an allegory. I'd even recommend it on audio, read by Duchovny, but be warned: there are some BIG laughs, but there is also a ton of NSFW or NSFKids language.

I was just reading on Book Riot about Fifteen Dogs which won the Giller prize a couple of years ago. it was described as a modern allegory so I think I will read it.

this might be a slightly easier to understand definition

"a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one"

Love, love, love by Richard Adams for this prompt!!!

Would The Grapes of Wrath work for this? With the turtle chapters that represent their journey? I’ve started it five times and never finished, so I’m hoping I can get through it if it works for a challenge prompt.

Saramago have several .this year I read A Caverna and loved it.

Would Catch 22 work?

Sarah wrote: "Would Catch 22 work?"

Yep, that's my pick for this category!

Going to try The Bees by Laline Paullfpr this one.

I found this shelf and it includes To Kill a Mockingbird. I've already read that but I'm assuming Go Set a Watchman counts as well, so that's my pick.

I'll be reading:

Brave New World