1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Ezkaban
(
By J. K. Rowling
Translated by Peng Chien-wen (
The action begins in this third episode of the Harry Potter series when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the dreadful visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a balloon and drift up to the ceiling. Fearing punishment, Harry lunges out into the darkness with his trunk and his owl Hedwig, beginning a journey that will have children and adults cheering.
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (
By J.K. Rowling
Translated by Peng Chien-wen (
The long summer vacation has finally ended and Harry Potter can't wait to go back to magic school. But a string of strange and terrifying things takes place and Harry must find the culprit behind them.
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (
By J.K. Rowling
Translated by Peng Chien-wen (
Mysterious letters lead the 11-year-old Harry Potter into a kingdom of sorcerers, who send their mail by owl messengers and travel on brooms.
4. Eternal Light of Love (愛過流星)
By Wu Ruo-chuan (
Another book from one of Taiwan's best-selling essayists -- about love, life and comets.
5. Wisdom from Aesop's Fables
(
Translated and revised by Liu
Yi-chun (
A collection of 120 stories translated from Aesop's Fables. The English versions of the stories are also included.
6. This Is My Answer (
By Teng Ching Shu (
A male university student meets a girl with beautiful, long hair and a sweet voice in a bookstore. He wants to turn the precious, short encounter into an everlasting love story.
7. Red Oranges (
By Chi-chun (
A story about a young woman who falls in love with her uncle, and about women deserted by their husbands.
8. I'm Not Teaching You To Be Cunning Part IV (
By Liu Yung (
A book of essays about human deceit and crookery as manifested in various spheres of society, including politics and business.
9. Tuo Tuo's Notes: Flying Soul
(
By Tuo Tuo (
A third collection of girlie essays from a woman who runs her own popular Web magazine (at http://gpaper.gigigaga.com).
10. Wisdom For a Lifetime
(
By Tai Chen-chih (
A book of inspirational essays, written from a psychological angle.
11. Say It To Your Heart
(
By Liu Yung (
A meditation by the maestro of inspirational books -- this time about speech and the right ways to express oneself.
12. The Bible of Reincarnation Part I (
By Carmelita Chao (
A mystic novel from the Hong Kong-born meditation teacher, who spent much of her life in Taiwan and is now based in the San Francisco area.
13. The Blue Day Book
(
By Bradley Trevor Greive
Translated by Chuang
Ching-chun (
A collection of amusing animal photos as well as warm and inspirational texts designed to cheer up anyone who's got the blues.
14. Wisdom of Life from Aesop's Fables (
By Taizo Kato (
Translated by Lin Ya-hui (
The author borrows Aesop's Fables to share some viewpoints about life and encourage readers to make a comeback after failures.
15. 61 x 57
By Wang Wen-hua (
A novel about love in cosmopolitan Taipei.
16. The Bible of Reincarnation
Part II (
By Carmelita Chao (
The second installment from the Hong Kong-born meditation teacher.
17. The Moments (
By Jimmy (
Another new book in Jimmy's popular series of cartoon sketches and literary musings.
18. The End of the Affair (
By Graham Greene
Translated by Lu Yu (
In this novel of adultery and religious questing, Maurice Bendrix is a sardonic and cynical writer who reflects on his affair with Sarah, a married woman, during the bombing of London in 1940.
19. One-minute Reflection on Life (
By Wu Tan-ju (
More essays on love and other concerns by one of Taiwan's best-selling essayists.
20. The Mansion (
By Kuo Pao-chang (
A novel, dubbed "the modern version of Dream of the Red Chamber, about an aristocratic family in Beijing.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your