2. THE BROKER
by John Grisham
Dell
The CIA arranges a presidential pardon for a power broker who may know crucial secrets, laying a trap for the foreign
intelligence service that wants him dead.
3. RED LILY
by Nora Roberts
Jove
A woman who works in a
nursery falls in love with the boss' son; conclusion of the In the Garden trilogy.
4. ALONE
by Lisa Gardner
Bantam
A sniper with the Massachusetts State Police faces a wrongful-death lawsuit -- and a killer who's on the loose.
5. VENDETTA
by Fern Michaels
Zebra
The Sisterhood, a group of friends, makes sure a hit-and-run driver pays for his crime.
6. UNLEASH THE NIGHT
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
St. Martin's
A half-tiger, half-leopard must fight to save a lonely socialite in this Dark-Hunter romance.
7. CAROLINA ISLE
by Jude Deveraux
Pocket
Two lifelong pen pals switch identities, and trouble quickly follows.
8. WICKED
by Gregory Maguire
ReganBooks/HarperCollins
A little green-skinned girl grows up to become the Wicked Witch of the West; source of the Broadway musical.
9. THE KITE RUNNER
by Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead
An Afghan-American returns to Kabul to learn how his childhood friend fared under the Taliban.
10. GOING HOME
by Nora Roberts
Silhouette
Three romances from the
archive of learning-about-and-feeling-better-about-oursleves books, this one is women reconnecting with their families.
11. DOUBLE TAP
by Steve Martini
Jove
The lawyer Paul Madriani comes upon government secrets when he defends a solider who is on trial for murder.
12. EDGE OF EVIL
by J.A. Jance
Avon
A former TV journalist moves back home to Arizona and starts a blog -- and then the threats begin.
NONFICTION
1. A MILLION LITTLE PIECES
by James Frey
Anchor
A memoir by a man who was an alcoholic for 10 years and a crack addict for three.
2. COLLAPSE
by Jared Diamond
Penguin
A historical investigation into why some societies succeed while others fail.
3. IN COLD BLOOD
by Truman Capote
Vintage
A savage murder in Kansas in 1959 and its consequences.
4. THREE WEEKS WITH MY BROTHER
by Nicholas Sparks and Micah Sparks
Warner
The novelist and his sibling describe their trip around the world.
5. THE TIPPING POINT
by Malcolm Gladwell
Back Bay/Little, Brown
A journalist's study of social
epidemics, otherwise known as fads.
6. THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY
by Erik Larson
Vintage
A great architect and a serial killer, linked by the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.
7. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE
by Mitch Albom
Broadway, Anchor
The author tells of his visits to his old college mentor, who was near death's door.
8. GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL
by Jared Diamond
Norton
An argument that Western
dominance is a result of geographical advantages.
9. MAGICAL THINKING
by Augusten Burroughs
Picador/St. Martin's Press
Life after rehab, from the author of Running With Scissors.
10. WHEN WILL JESUS BRING THE PORK CHOPS?
by George Carlin
Hyperion
Another volume of observations and opinions from the stand-up comedian.
11. WORTH MORE DEAD
by Ann Rule
Pocket Books
Five true-crime cases, including the long-unsolved killing of a former Marine's estranged wife.
12. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE OFFICIAL ILLUSTRATED MOVIE COMPANION
by Perry Moore
HarperSanFrancisco
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie.
13. NICKEL AND DIMED
by Barbara Ehrenreich
Metropolitan/Owl/Holt
A social critic reports on what it was like to become a member of the working poor and then,
presumably, return to riches.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s