Books: The Editors Like

NO PICNIC ON MOUNT KENYAby Felice Benuzzi. (Dutton, $3.75.) Mr. Benuzzi eased out of a British POW camp with two companions, climbed Mount Kenya, and planted the Italian flag on a handy peak in what was certainly one of the most sporting ventures of World War II.

CAVES OF ADVENTUREby Haroun Tazieff. (Harper, $3,00.) Humor, accident, erratic machinery, and impressive courage play a part in an unlucky speleological expedition. It’s a terrifying story and yet makes the fascination of cave exploration perfectly comprehensible.

OUR VIRGIN ISLANDby Robb White. (Doubleday, $3.50.) Various contretemps and a lot of pleasant description enliven this story of housekeeping on an uninhabited Caribbean islet.

A GUIDE TO THE MOONby Patrick Moore. (Norton, $3.95.) No rocket plans included, but every question a nonastronomer could ask about the moon it self is answered in this lucid guidebook.

THE MOUNTAINby Henri Troyat. (Simon & Schuster, $2.50.) The mythical overtones in this beautifully written story of two brothers and a mountain don’t interfere in the least with the excitement of a tough climb.

THE SISTERS MATERASSIby Aldo Palazzeschi. (Doubleday, $3.50.) Leisurely but not slow, the story of two hard-working spinsters fleeced by their charming rascal of a nephew has wit and a delightful Tuscan setting.

CECILEby Benjamin Constant. (New Directions, $2.50.) So long lost that it had been given up as legendary, Constant’s autobiographical novel about his waverings between the formidable Madame de Staël and his eventual wife has finally turned up, delicate, ironic, penetrating, and unfinished.

SCULPTURE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURYby Andrew Carnduff Ritchie. (Museum of Modern Art, $7.50.) Sculpture from Rodin to Calder discussed and interpreted with great authority and a complete absence of aesthetic gobbledygook. First-class photographs.

PASTELS BY EDGAR DEGASselected and with an introduction by Douglas Cooper. (British Book Centre. $4.95.) The pictures are the main point here, well chosen, nicely reproduced, and all in color.

ART IN THE ICE AGEby Johannes Maringer and Hans-Georg Bandi. (Frederick A. Praeger, $12.50.) A lovely book which includes considerable geological and archaeological information in its survey of prehistoric European art. Thic kly illustrated, with a number of color plates of red and black cave paintings.