FICTION
1. A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
by Khaled Hosseini.
Riverhead
A friendship between two women in Afghanistan set against the backdrop of war.
2. PLAY DIRTY
by Sandra Brown
Simon & Schuster
A disgraced NFL quarterback struggles to remake his life.
3. FORCE OF NATURE
by Suzanne Brockmann
Ballantine
A Florida PI and his assistant infiltrate a crime circle.
4. THE QUICKIE
by James Patterson and
Michael Ledwidge
Little, Brown
A police officer's attempt to get back at her husband goes dangerously awry.
5. LOVING FRANK
by Nancy Horan
Ballantine
A historical novel about the scandalous affair between a married Chicago woman and the architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
6. SANDWORMS OF DUNE
by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson
Tor/Tom Doherty
The resolution of the war between man and machine.
7. THE SECRET SERVANT
by Daniel Silva
Putnam,
Gabriel Allon, an art restorer and an occasional spy for the Israeli secret service, searches for the kidnapped daughter of an American ambassador.
8. DEVIL MAY CRY
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
St Martin's
A former Sumerian god, now a casino owner, must cooperate with the servant of the goddess who stole his powers; the 11th Dark-Hunter novel.
9. SPOOK COUNTRY
by William Gibson
Putnam
A musician/journalist, a spy and an addict/cryptographer push back against bureaucracy, history and technology.
10. THE BURNT HOUSE
by Faye Kellerman
Morrow
Lieutenant Peter Decker of the LAPD and his wife, Rina Lazarus, investigate a mysterious plane crash.
11. THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN
by James Lee Burke
Simon & Schuster
The Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux copes with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
12. WALKING WITH ENEMIES
by Eric Jerome
Dickety
In London, Gideon struggles to outsmart an assassin; a sequel to Sleeping With Strangers.
NONFICTION
1. YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE
by Duane Chapman with Laura Morton
Hyperion,
The star of Dog the Bounty Hunter recalls his past and describes his bounty hunts.
2. QUIET STRENGTH
by Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker
Tyndale
A memoir by the first black coach to win a Super Bowl.
3. LONE SURVIVOR
by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson
Little, Brown
The only survivor of a Navy SEAL operation in northern Afghanistan describes his courageous escape.
4. IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM
by Denise Jackson with Ellen Vaughn
Thomas Nelson
The wife of the country music star Alan Jackson describes how religious faith restored her marriage.
5. GOD IS NOT GREAT
by Christopher Hitchens.
Twelve
Religion as a malignant force in the world.
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.
7. THE WORLD WITHOUT US
by Alan Weisman
Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's
What Earth would be like if humans disappeared.
8. THE GAME
by Neil Strauss
Morrow
An ugly duckling transforms himself into a pickup artist.
9. THE PREACHER AND THE PRESIDENTS
by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy
Center Street,
Billy Graham and his relationship with the rich and famous.
10. ANIMAL, VEGETABLE,
MIRACLE
by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille
Kingsolver
HarperCollins
The novelist and her family spend a year eating homegrown or local food.
11. LEGACY OF ASHES
by Tim Weiner
Doubleday
A history of the Central Intelligence Agency by a New York Times reporter.
12. MERLE'S DOOR
by Ted Kerasote
Harcourt
Lessons from a freethinking dog: a nature writer's tribute to the quirky Labrador mutt
he adopted.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
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