MercatorNet | Quick Picks

Books

This list contains 20 entries

In the near future, America has lost global dominance in everything except the online underworld and pizza delivery. The hero is a personality in both, and so is the heroine. Together they save the world from a mysterious cybervirus based on the ancient Sumerian language that reprograms people's brains. Despite being written in present tense, it is an amazingly easy read. A must for anyone interested in writing.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

1979 | Douglas Adams

Not one of the greatest-ever novels, but its quirky humour stays with you. It tells the hilarious story of Arthur Dent's travels after being plucked from Planet Earth moments before it is destroyed to build an inter-galactic freeway.

Rendezvous with Rama

1972 | Arthur C. Clarke

A giant cylinder drifts into the solar system and an expedition is sent to investigate its contents. Rather than discovering who the aliens are, the humans end up discovering more about themselves. It’s a definite page turner.

Ringworld

1970 | Larry Niven

A motley crew is sent to explore a huge ring in space, which nobody can explain. The especially attractive part of the story is in the interaction between the (very different) characters.

2001: A Space Odyssey

1968 | Arthur C. Clarke

This classic is much more understandable than its film version. The reader is taken from a monolith in ancient earth, to a monolith on the moon, to a giant monolith on a moon of Jupiter, placed there by some unknown aliens to help man make a transition. The most interesting character is HAL-9000, the paranoid computer system controlling the expedition to Jupiter.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Original Title of “Blade Runner")

1968 | Philip K. Dick

Taken to the big screen as "Blade Runner", this story centers on a hunter in search of "replicants," artificial humans who are banned under death penalty to come to earth. They keep coming, however, for they want to find a solution to their forced "expiration" at thirty years of age. The novel is gritty and the world gray and compelling, and there is no way to tell, all the way to the end, whether the hero is a replicant himself.

Flowers for Algernon

1966 | Daniel Keyes

Charlie Gordon goes from an IQ of 20 to supergenius, and back to his former self. This endearing story is particularly good in portraying his inner self, his ambition to become smarter, and the series of fear, despair, acceptance, and final joy as he sinks back into retardation.

Dune

1965 | Frank Herbert

The planet Arrakis contains two things: lots of sand, and giant worms that produce a substance, "spice", which is necessary for interstellar travel. Naturally, the feudal lords running the galaxy are constantly fighting for control of Arrakis. This book centers on the strife of Paul Atreides against the Harkonnen pretenders. In the process, he will discover special powers and a prophecy that makes him a kind of Messiah for the local inhabitants. The book, written in omniscient style, captivates by portraying the strife, from many points of view, in exquisite detail. The sequels are not nearly as fresh, and often become plain weird.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

1962 | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

You will get a glimmpse of the soul-destroying nature of Communism after reading this piercing novel. This was Solzhenitsyn's first and it created a sensation when it was first published in the Soviet Union. It relates what happens to a prisoner in one of Stalin's gulags on a typical day. A sombre book which recognises that man is more than what he eats.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

1959 | Walter M. Miller, Jr.

The world has sunk into a new dark age. Yet, knowledge is still being preserved by a new order of monks. After, a new Renaissance takes place, and eventually the cycle repeats itself. A masterful classic, divided into three snapshots along this timeline. The first one is particularly endearing.

The Lord of the Flies

1954 | William Golding

I don't mind pessimism, at least in small quantities. This famous novel is dark, dark, dark, but beautifully written and very thought-provoking. A group of British schoolboys are shipwrecked on a desert island. Instead of cooperating and acting like civilised Boy Scouts, they turn into murderous savages.

More than Human

1953 | Theodore Sturgeon

This is a very literary piece, centering on a superhuman entity formed by a few humans with special (but not very flashy) powers. It makes you think, but many will not enjoy it.

The Old Man and the Sea

1952 | Ernest Hemingway

This is a moving story of physical and moral struggle told in Hemingway's spare but beautiful prose. A aged and unlucky Cuban fisherman hooks a huge marlin in his tiny boat, but sharks attack it as he returns home.

Cry, the Beloved Country

1948 | Alan Paton

This is South Africa's greatest novel, a harsh story of mercy, forgiveness and social justice. An Anglican priest from a country parish goes to Johannesburg to look for his wastrel son and discovers a disaster.

Animal Farm

1946 | George Orwell

This is a brilliant analysis of why the high ideals of the Russian Revolution collapsed into a welter of corruption, oppression and inefficiency. But it is told in the form of a parable: animals revolt and take over a farm.

Scoop

1938 | Evelyn Waugh

A scathing and side-splitting commentary on the media, as relevant today as it was in the 1930s. William Boot, nature correspondent for an obscure corner of England, is dispatched to the fictional African country of Ishmaelia as a war correspondent. Waugh is one of the century's great stylists.

The Code of the Woosters

1938 | P.G. Wodehouse

Since P.G. Wodehouse wrote nearly 100 novels, all of them enjoyable it is hard to select one. The Code of the Woosters features his great characters, the nitwit Bertie Wooster and his highly intelligent valet Jeeves. The plot is intricate, the characters hare-brained British aristocrats, the language supremely entertaining.

Death Comes for the Archbishop

1927 | Willa Cather

Willa Cather stands amongst America's greatest writers, but has never received the recognition she deserves. This is a simple story of a French priest who ministers to a fascinating group of people in the days when the Wild West was opening up. She has a rare ability to portray genuine virtue.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

1927 | Thornton Wilder

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a thoughtful reflection upon the meaning of human life. A group of travellers plunges to their death as they walk across a rope bridge in 18th century Peru. A passing monk asks why God chose them to die at that time.

Lord of the World

1908 | Robert Hugh Benson

It gives me the goose pimples to see how accurately Benson describes the world at the end of the 20th century. One would think he had a crystal ball. Worth every line all the way to the end.

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A tick on the bottom right corner indicates a superior work -- although this is obviously a matter of taste. To give another quality benchmark for films, we have surveyed some leading critics and recorded their views, on a scale of 1 (poor) to 10 (outstanding).