1. THE HUSBAND
by Dean Koontz
Bantam
A man whose wife has been kidnapped has 60 hours to come up with a huge ransom.
2. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
by Sara Gruen
Algonquin
A young man — and an elephant — save a Depression-era circus.
3. THE ROAD
by Cormac McCarthy
Vintage
A father and son travel in post-apocalypse America.
4. THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER
by Kim Edwards
Penguin
A doctor's decision to secretly send his newborn daughter, who has Down syndrome, to an institution haunts everyone involved.
5. THE FIFTH HORSEMAN
by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Warner
Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club investigate unexplained deaths at a San Francisco hospital.
6. SUITE FRANCAISE
by Irene Nemirovsky
Vintage
Two novellas, which came to light more than 50 years after the author's death, about life in France under the Nazis.
7. SUSANNAH'S GARDEN
by Debbie Macomber
Mira
A woman returns to her hometown and re-examines the troubling events of her past.
8. THE KITE RUNNER
by Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead
An Afghan-American returns to Kabul to learn how a childhood friend has fared.
9. COVER OF NIGHT
by Linda Howard
Ballantine
A young widow fights back when intruders storm her bed-and-breakfast in rural Idaho.
10. DEAD WATCH
by John Sandford
Berkley
A political operative investigates the murder of a former senator.
11. TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE
by Mary Higgins Clark
Pocket
A small girl communicates telepathically with her kidnapped twin.
12. THE BOOK OF FATE
by Brad Meltzer
Warner
The apparent murder of a presidential aide reveals Masonic secrets in Washington and a 200-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson.
13. THE ALCHEMIST
by Paulo Coelho
HarperSanFranciso
A tale about the lessons a Spanish shepherd boy learns during his travels to Egypt in search of treasure.
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
The Ministry of Education last month proposed a nationwide ban on mobile devices in schools, aiming to curb concerns over student phone addiction. Under the revised regulation, which will take effect in August, teachers and schools will be required to collect mobile devices — including phones, laptops and wearables devices — for safekeeping during school hours, unless they are being used for educational purposes. For Chang Fong-ching (張鳳琴), the ban will have a positive impact. “It’s a good move,” says the professor in the department of
On April 17, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) launched a bold campaign to revive and revitalize the KMT base by calling for an impromptu rally at the Taipei prosecutor’s offices to protest recent arrests of KMT recall campaigners over allegations of forgery and fraud involving signatures of dead voters. The protest had no time to apply for permits and was illegal, but that played into the sense of opposition grievance at alleged weaponization of the judiciary by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to “annihilate” the opposition parties. Blamed for faltering recall campaigns and faced with a KMT chair
Article 2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文) stipulates that upon a vote of no confidence in the premier, the president can dissolve the legislature within 10 days. If the legislature is dissolved, a new legislative election must be held within 60 days, and the legislators’ terms will then be reckoned from that election. Two weeks ago Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) proposed that the legislature hold a vote of no confidence in the premier and dare the president to dissolve the legislature. The legislature is currently controlled
RSS