1. LOVE IN THE TIME OF
CHOLERA
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Vintage International
A Colombian poet's love for a woman is tested.
2. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
by Sara Gruen
Algonquin
A young man and an elephant save a Depression-era circus.
3. HALO: CONTACT HARVEST
by Joseph Staten
Tom Doherty Associates
A squad of marines and militia trainees is called to save a farming colony threatened by an aggressive alien empire.
4. THE KITE RUNNER
by Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead
An Afghan-American returns to Kabul to learn how a childhood friend has fared under the Taliban.
5. 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.
6. THE THIRTEENTH TALE
by Diane Setterfield
Washington Square
A biographer struggles to discover the truth about an aging writer who has mythologized her past.
7. SUITE FRANCAISE
by Irene Nemirovsky
Vintage
Two novellas about life in France under the Nazis.
8. WORLD WAR Z
by Max Brooks
Three Rivers
An "oral history" of an imagined zombie war that nearly destroys civilization.
9. WHAT IS THE WHAT
by Dave Eggers
Vintage
The fictionalized autobiography of one of Sudan's "Lost Boys," refugees from its civil war.
10. THE ROAD
by Cormac McCarthy
Vintage
A father and son travel in post-apocalypse America.
11. THE ALCHEMIST
by Paulo Coelho
HarperSanFrancisco
A tale about the lessons a Spanish shepherd boy learns during his travels to Egypt.
12. THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN
by Claire Messud
Vintage
Privileged 30-somethings try to make their way in literary New York just before Sept. 11.
13. THE GATHERING
by Anne Enright
Black Cat/ Grove
A middle-aged woman struggles to come to terms with the suicide of her brother.
1. EAT, PRAY, LOVE
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Penguin Books
A writer's yearlong journey in search of self takes her to Italy, India and Indonesia.
2. INTO THE WILD
by Jon Krakauer
Anchor
How a young man's obsession with the wilderness had a tragic end.
3. THREE CUPS OF TEA
by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Penguin Books
A former climber builds schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
4. 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN
by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey
Revell
A minister on the otherworldly experience he had after an accident.
5. THE GLASS CASTLE
by Jeannette Walls
Scribner
The author recalls a bizarre childhood.
6. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE
by Mitch Albom
Broadway
The author tells of his visits to his old college mentor.
7. THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA
By Michael Pollan
Penguin
A journalist juggles appetite and conscience.
8. THE WORLD IS FLAT
by Thomas Friedman
Picador
An updated edition of the New York Times columnist's analysis of 21st-century economics and foreign policy.
>9. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID
by Bill Bryson
Broadway
The author, who as a child in Iowa dreamed he was a superhero, uses this persona to bring to life 1950s Des Moines.
10. BLINK
by Malcolm Gladwell
Back Bay/Little Brown
The author of The Tipping Point explores the importance of instinct to the workings of the mind.
11. THE TIPPING POINT
by Malcolm Gladwell
Back Bay/Little, Brown
A journalist's study of social epidemics, otherwise known as fads.
12. THUNDERSTRUCK
by Erik Larson
Three Rivers
Intertwined stories of early-20th-century murder and scientific intrigue.
13. CULTURE WARRIOR
by Bill O'Reilly
Broadway
The host of The O'Reilly Factor describes a culture war between traditionalists and secular progressives.
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