My favourite book is Stalker. It has been writen by Arkadi and Boris Strougatski in 1972, and the original title is "Piknik na obochine" wich means "picnic along the path". This book tells the story of Redrick Souhart, a man who lives right next to a contaminated place where extra-terrestrians came, and left a few days later, leaving behind them strange objects, substances, even deadly traps, and the Golden Ball, the final objective of every stalker, which is supposed to make the one who catches it happy for the rest of his life by granting his wishes. So, Redrick Souhart, called Red, is one of the stalkers of the town who try to reach the Golden Ball. But, the problem is that the Ball can't be reached by one only man... They have to be two, because one man must die for the other to walk through the traps safely and take the ball.
But Red is different from the other stalkers... He doesn't want to use the Golden Ball for himself, but for everyone to be happy, becauses he doesn't want to see anybody suffer anymore, and wants people to have the life they dreamt of. He always does everything he can to help, heal, save people (even the other stalkers, what is against he Stalkers' Surviving Rules) because he considers that life is too precious to be destroyed by something which is totally vain.
This is the cover of the French edition of Stalker.
