1. 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.
2. 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 Aunt Marge to inflate like a balloon and float 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.
3. Harry Potter II (哈利波特 II)
By J.K. Rowling
Translated by Peng Chien-wen (彭倩文)
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 begin to happen, and Harry must find the culprit behind them.
4. Quidditch through the Ages; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
(
By J.K. Rowling
For all fans of Harry Potter, Quidditch through the Ages is the reference book that Harry Potter borrows from the school library; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the assigned textbook for all first graders at at Harry's school, Hogwarts.
5. Mistletoe (懈寄生)
By Tsai Chih-heng (蔡智恆)
A 120,000-character novel about how a research assistant makes a choice between two girls.
6. The Bible of Reincarnation: Part I (葬書: 上)
By Carmelita Chao (趙慧娟)
A mystical novel from the Hong Kong-born teacher of meditation who spent much of her life in Taiwan and is now based in the San Francisco area.
7. Wisdom from Aesop's Fables (索寓言的智慧)
Translated and revised by Liu Yi-chun (劉怡君)
A collection of 120 stories translated from Aesop's Fables. The English versions of the stories are also included.
8. Going Left, Going Right (向左走*向右走)
By Jimmy (幾米)
One in Jimmy's popular series of cartoon sketches and literary musings.
9. Love in the Moonlight (
By Wu Ruo-chuan (吳若權)
Another book from one of Taiwan's best-selling essayists on life.
10. Harvard Girl -- Liu Yiting (哈佛女孩劉亦婷)
By Liu Weihua and Zhang Xinwu (劉衛華, 張欣武)
A book dedicated to all parents who love their children. Liu Yiting was awarded scholarships to four famous US universities and has become the new idea student in China. Liu's parents, influenced by the book, Early Education and Genius, describe how they educated their daughter.
11. The Toast Boy's Kiss (吐司男之吻)
By Chi Hsi-lin (齊錫麟)
A love story adopted from a popular TV series about a high school girl who falls in love with a gangster's son in a summer.
12. Lost Souls and Fallen Spirits (失魂落魄)
By Carmelita Chao (趙慧娟)
Another mystical novel from the Hong Kong-born meditation teacher in discussing "karma" -- which regards the doctrine of fate as the inflexible result of cause and effect.
13. Lady! Don't Be Angry (小姐小姐別生氣)
By Liu Yung (劉墉)
One of Taiwan's best-selling essayists tells you all the things a girl should know.
14. Lonesome Like You (妳,這樣寂寞)
By Tsai Shih-pin (蔡詩萍)
The author, editor in chief of the United Evening News, tries to analyze lonely women from the male perspective.
15. A Message from the Spiritual World (靈界訊息)
By Carmelita Chao (趙慧娟)
A novel about the mysteries of love and life, with a focus on a cursed female journalist's horrifying story.
16. Say it to Your Heart (把話說到心窩裡)
By Liu Yung (劉墉)
A meditation by the maestro of inspirational books -- this time about speech and the right ways to express oneself, as the famous New York-based essayist teaches you the art of speaking through vivid stories and examples.
17. The Moon Has Forgotten (月亮忘記了)
By Jimmy (幾米)
Another one in Jimmy's popular series of cartoon sketches and literary musings, which tells the story of a lonely boy.
18. This is My Answer (這是我的答案)
By Teng Ching-shu (藤井樹)
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.
19. Early Education and Genius (早期教育與天才)
By Kimura, Kuichi (木村久一)
Translated by Chen Hui-li (陳惠莉)
The book, first published by the Japanese author in 1916, advocates the importance of early education for a child.
20. The Bible of Reincarnation, Part II (葬書: 下)
By Carmelita Chao (趙慧娟)
The second installment from the Hong Kong-born meditation teacher.
-- Kingstone Books
Under pressure, President William Lai (賴清德) has enacted his first cabinet reshuffle. Whether it will be enough to staunch the bleeding remains to be seen. Cabinet members in the Executive Yuan almost always end up as sacrificial lambs, especially those appointed early in a president’s term. When presidents are under pressure, the cabinet is reshuffled. This is not unique to any party or president; this is the custom. This is the case in many democracies, especially parliamentary ones. In Taiwan, constitutionally the president presides over the heads of the five branches of government, each of which is confusingly translated as “president”
Sept. 1 to Sept. 7 In 1899, Kozaburo Hirai became the first documented Japanese to wed a Taiwanese under colonial rule. The soldier was partly motivated by the government’s policy of assimilating the Taiwanese population through intermarriage. While his friends and family disapproved and even mocked him, the marriage endured. By 1930, when his story appeared in Tales of Virtuous Deeds in Taiwan, Hirai had settled in his wife’s rural Changhua hometown, farming the land and integrating into local society. Similarly, Aiko Fujii, who married into the prominent Wufeng Lin Family (霧峰林家) in 1927, quickly learned Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and
The low voter turnout for the referendum on Aug. 23 shows that many Taiwanese are apathetic about nuclear energy, but there are long-term energy stakes involved that the public needs to grasp Taiwan faces an energy trilemma: soaring AI-driven demand, pressure to cut carbon and reliance on fragile fuel imports. But the nuclear referendum on Aug. 23 showed how little this registered with voters, many of whom neither see the long game nor grasp the stakes. Volunteer referendum worker Vivian Chen (陳薇安) put it bluntly: “I’ve seen many people asking what they’re voting for when they arrive to vote. They cast their vote without even doing any research.” Imagine Taiwanese voters invited to a poker table. The bet looked simple — yes or no — yet most never showed. More than two-thirds of those
In the run-up to the referendum on re-opening Pingtung County’s Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant last month, the media inundated us with explainers. A favorite factoid of the international media, endlessly recycled, was that Taiwan has no energy reserves for a blockade, thus necessitating re-opening the nuclear plants. As presented by the Chinese-language CommonWealth Magazine, it runs: “According to the US Department of Commerce International Trade Administration, 97.73 percent of Taiwan’s energy is imported, and estimates are that Taiwan has only 11 days of reserves available in the event of a blockade.” This factoid is not an outright lie — that