Right On Book Picks
Do you need a quick pick for a good book? Want a great gift idea for a book loving adult? You can't go wrong with these right-on top picks based on the Rat's unique rating criteria.
See below for lists of the top picks in modern fiction, science fiction, and classics with links to my completely independent reviews of each book. I also plan to add a list of best comedy novels as soon as I complete a few more reviews of comedy books.
Don't be afraid to try a new genre. The books in these lists complement each other well. If you know you like a couple of books in one genre, consider trying out a book from another genre.
If you find these reviews helpful, support this site by buying your books from the convenient links on this site. Most reviews have three book cover images with links to my favorite on-line booksellers. The first book cover image is usually linked to used books at Powell's which are sold at a huge discount, if available. The second and third book cover images are for new books at Amazon and Amazon UK. All three book sellers offer excellent prices on new books with free shipping on qualifying orders. There are also convenient links to search for new and used books here.
Modern Fiction Top Picks:
- Replay by Ken Grimwood
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
- Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
- Complicity by Iain Banks
- Sleepless by Charlie Huston
- The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
- The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers
- Possession by A. S. Byatt
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
- The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell
- The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq
- The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh
- 7 Steps to Midnight by Richard Matheson
- Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
- The First Man by Albert Camus
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
- Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
- The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
- Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
- Skinner by Charlie Huston
- Prodigy by Dave Kalstein
- Light House by William Monahan
- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
- House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe
- A Crash Course on the Anatomy of Robots by Kent Evans
- Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer
- Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell
- Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
- The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
Science Fiction Top Picks:
- Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
- River of Gods by Ian McDonald
- The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
- A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
- The Martian by Andy Weir
- The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Blindsight by Peter Watts
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- The Peripheral by William Gibson
- Brave New Word by Aldous Huxley
- Halting State by Charles Stross
- Virtual Light by William Gibson
- The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
- Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson
- Saturn's Children by Charles Stross
- Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
- Queen of Angels by Greg Bear
- The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
- Slant by Greg Bear
- The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin
- redRobe by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
- A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
- Genesis by Bernard Beckett
- Transition by Iain M. Banks
- Starfish by Peter Watts
- Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
- End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
- Broken Angels by Richard Morgan
- Rule 34 by Charles Stross
Classic Fiction Top Picks:
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
- The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
- The Stranger by Albert Camus
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
- The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- In Search of Lost Time (Remembrance of Things Past) by Marcel Proust
- Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
- The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
