1. Faith Conquers All (
By Tai Cheng-chih (
This is a collection of inspirational essays depicting how successful people in different professions pursue their dreams.
2. A Girl Called Feeling (
By Hiyawu
The story began six years ago when the boy accidentally met the cute girl at a cram school. He painstakingly courted her, but he found himself loved by another girl. How should he decide?
3. Cards on the Table
By Agatha Christie
Translated by Sha Hui (沙輝)
One of Christie's best works about four detectives, four potential murderers, and one corpse. Shaitana invites four detectives and four people he suspects may have gotten away with murder. Later, when the guests prepare to leave, it is discovered that Shaitana has been fatally stabbed. Who's the murderer?
4. Murder on the Orient Express
By Agatha Christie, Translated by Chen Yao-kuang
A remarkable set of characters are brought together for a journey on the Orient Express train as it travels from Istanbul to Paris. But who murdered the American passenger? How will Hercule Poirot, the dapper Belgian detective, unravel the mystery?
5. Goodbye, Kiulu
By Kengo Ishiguro (石黑謙吾) and Ryouhei Akimoto (秋元良平)
Translated by Lin Fang-erh (林芳兒)
This is the story of a guide dog for the blind, embellished with beautiful black-and-white photos. The book has sold close to a million copies in Japan.
6. The Bible of Reincarnation: Part I (
By Carmelita Chao
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. A Guide to Happiness
By Wu Tan-ju
What kind of happiness do you want? The famous essayist published her first account of her own marital love. This is the guide you will need in the quest for happiness.
8. Little S' Braces Diary
By Hsu Hsi-ti
This is a hotchpotch diary of cartoons sketches, photos and poetry from pop singer and TV host Hsu Hsi-ti
9. A Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994 (美麗境界)
By Sylvia Nasar
Translated by Fu Shih-che
Written by economist and journalist Sylvia Nasar, this is a book about John Nash -- one of the world's most brilliant mathematicians. His most important work had been in game theory, which by the 1980s was underpinning a large part of economic practice.
10. Incontinence of Love
By Jen Erh Hsiung
Another comic-essay book about love and relationships.
11. This is My Answer
By Hiyawu
A romance about a young man falling in love with a young girl who asks him to do a questionaire in front of a certain Eslite bookstore.
12. Irish Coffee
By Tsai Chi-heng
Short- and medium-length romantic stories initially published on-line.
13. My Mother's Golden Watch
By Chi-chun
This is a collection of essays about the author's memories of her childhood and the time she shared with her mother.
14. Dream-catcher
By Liu Yung
A collection of 54 very short essays and stories from the maestro of inspirational writings. This one covers inspiration you can find in religion, plants, animals and love, among other things.
15. Say it to Your Heart II
(
By Liu Yung
A sequel to the successful inspirational book from the New York-based essayist Liu Yung.
16. Lavender
By Tu Hui-chuan
Another book of illustrated scribblings from a young triumvirate -- on the usual subject of young love. This one bears the distinction of refined art work and full-color printing.
17. Secret Lover at Paris Cafe
By Cheng Hwa-jiuan
The Germany-based author brings more amusing and heart-warming stories about life and relationships from her adopted home.
18. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
By J.K. Rowling, Translated by Peng Chien-wen
Harry, now 14, comes in touch with his godfather-in-hiding, Sirius Black, while Lord Voldemort and his sinister Death Eaters lurk on the Dark Side. Meanwhile, Hogwarts vies with two other magicians' schools in a Triwizard Tournament. Could Harry be one of the lucky contenders?
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not