FICTION
1. THE 6TH TARGET
by James Patteson and Maxine Paetro
Little, Brown
In San Francisco, children and their nannies are disappearing, and Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club investigate.
2. SIMPLE GENIUS
by David Baldacci
Warner
Two former Secret Service agents investigate a scientist's murder while one battles her own demons.
3. THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION
by Michael Chabon
HarperCollins
A detective investigates the murder of a neighbor in a Jewish settlement in Alaska.
4. THE CHILDREN OF HURIN
by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien
Houghton Mifflin
In Middle-earth, an evil lord wants to destroy his rival's children.
5. I HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE
by Mary Higgins Clark
Simon & Schuster
A woman marries a childhood acquaintance suspected of several murders.
6. THE WOODS
by Harlan Coben
Dutton
New evidence about a case of murder and disappearance at a summer camp 20 years earlier forces a county prosecutor to confront family secrets.
7. RANT
by Chuck Palahniuk
Doubleday
The "oral biography" of a serial killer.
8. NINETEEN MINUTES
by Jodi Picoult
Atria
The aftermath of a high school shooting reveals the fault lines in a small, close-knit New Hampshire town.
9. THE GOOD HUSBAND OF ZEBRA DRIVE
By Alexander McCall Smith
Pantheon
The eighth novel in the number one Ladies Detective Agency series.
10. BACK ON BLOSSOM STREET
by Debbie Macomber
Mira
More stories of life and love from a Seattle knitting class.
11. FOR ONE MORE DAY
by Mitch Albom
Hyperion
A troubled man gets a last chance to reconnect and restore his relationship with his dead mother.
12. BODY SURFING
by Anita Shreve
Little, Brown
A woman takes a job as a tutor and becomes involved in a wealthy family's tensions and rivalries.
NONFICTION
1. EINSTEIN
by Walter Isaacson
Simon & Schuster
A biography based on newly released personal letters.
2. AT THE CENTER OF THE STORM
by George Tenet
HarperCollins
The former director of the Central Intelligence Agency looks back on his career.
3. PAULA DEEN: IT AIN'T ALL ABOUT THE COOKIN'
by Paula Deen with Sherry Suib Cohen
Simon & Schuster
A memoir with recipes from the Southern cooking impresario.
4. GOD IS NOT GREAT
by Christopher Hitchens
Twelve
Religion as a malignant force in the world.
5. ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE
by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven Hopp and Camille Kingsolver
HarperCollins
The novelist and her family spend a year eating homegrown or local food; an argument for diversified farms and sustainable agriculture.
6. A LONG WAY GONE
by Ishmael Beah
Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
A former child soldier from Sierra Leone describes his drug-crazed killing spree and his return to humanity.
7. WHERE HAVE ALL THE LEADERS GONE
by Lee Iacocca
Scribner
The former CEO of Chrysler protests the lack of political and business leadership on issues like health care and energy policy.
8. I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK
by Nora Ephron
Knopf
A witty look at aging from a novelist and screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally.
9. PRESIDENTIAL COURAGE
by Michael Beschloss
Simon & Schuster
Profiles of nine presidents who had the courage to make unpopular decisions.
10. KABUL BEAUTY SCHOOL
by Deborah Rodriguez with Kristin Ohlson
Random House
To aid Afghan women, an American runs a beauty school in Kabul.
11. THE BLACK SWAN
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Random House
The role of the unexpected.
12. TALES FROM Q SCHOOL
by John Feinstein
Little Brown
Inside the 2005 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, which determines whether a golfer will have a slot on the PGA Tour, from the author of A Good Walk Spoiled.
In the mainstream view, the Philippines should be worried that a conflict over Taiwan between the superpowers will drag in Manila. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr observed in an interview in The Wall Street Journal last year, “I learned an African saying: When elephants fight, the only one that loses is the grass. We are the grass in this situation. We don’t want to get trampled.” Such sentiments are widespread. Few seem to have imagined the opposite: that a gray zone incursion of People’s Republic of China (PRC) ships into the Philippines’ waters could trigger a conflict that drags in Taiwan. Fewer
March 18 to March 24 Yasushi Noro knew that it was not the right time to scale Hehuan Mountain (合歡). It was March 1913 and the weather was still bitingly cold at high altitudes. But he knew he couldn’t afford to wait, either. Launched in 1910, the Japanese colonial government’s “five year plan to govern the savages” was going well. After numerous bloody battles, they had subdued almost all of the indigenous peoples in northeastern Taiwan, save for the Truku who held strong to their territory around the Liwu River (立霧溪) and Mugua River (木瓜溪) basins in today’s Hualien County (花蓮). The Japanese
Pei-Ru Ko (柯沛如) says her Taipei upbringing was a little different from her peers. “We lived near the National Palace Museum [north of Taipei] and our neighbors had rice paddies. They were growing food right next to us. There was a mountain and a river so people would say, ‘you live in the mountains,’ and my friends wouldn’t want to come and visit.” While her school friends remained a bus ride away, Ko’s semi-rural upbringing schooled her in other things, including where food comes from. “Most people living in Taipei wouldn’t have a neighbor that was growing food,” she says. “So
Whether you’re interested in the history of ceramics, the production process itself, creating your own pottery, shopping for ceramic vessels, or simply admiring beautiful handmade items, the Zhunan Snake Kiln (竹南蛇窯) in Jhunan Township (竹南), Miaoli County, is definitely worth a visit. For centuries, kiln products were an integral part of daily life in Taiwan: bricks for walls, tiles for roofs, pottery for the kitchen, jugs for fermenting alcoholic drinks, as well as decorative elements on temples, all came from kilns, and Miaoli was a major hub for the production of these items. The Zhunan Snake Kiln has a large area dedicated