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.
May 11 to May 18 The original Taichung Railway Station was long thought to have been completely razed. Opening on May 15, 1905, the one-story wooden structure soon outgrew its purpose and was replaced in 1917 by a grandiose, Western-style station. During construction on the third-generation station in 2017, workers discovered the service pit for the original station’s locomotive depot. A year later, a small wooden building on site was determined by historians to be the first stationmaster’s office, built around 1908. With these findings, the Taichung Railway Station Cultural Park now boasts that it has
The latest Formosa poll released at the end of last month shows confidence in President William Lai (賴清德) plunged 8.1 percent, while satisfaction with the Lai administration fared worse with a drop of 8.5 percent. Those lacking confidence in Lai jumped by 6 percent and dissatisfaction in his administration spiked up 6.7 percent. Confidence in Lai is still strong at 48.6 percent, compared to 43 percent lacking confidence — but this is his worst result overall since he took office. For the first time, dissatisfaction with his administration surpassed satisfaction, 47.3 to 47.1 percent. Though statistically a tie, for most
Six weeks before I embarked on a research mission in Kyoto, I was sitting alone at a bar counter in Melbourne. Next to me, a woman was bragging loudly to a friend: She, too, was heading to Kyoto, I quickly discerned. Except her trip was in four months. And she’d just pulled an all-nighter booking restaurant reservations. As I snooped on the conversation, I broke out in a sweat, panicking because I’d yet to secure a single table. Then I remembered: Eating well in Japan is absolutely not something to lose sleep over. It’s true that the best-known institutions book up faster
The excellent historical novel by Chen Yao-Cheng (陳耀昌) is a gripping tale of Taiwan in the 17th century, called Formosa at the time, told from the perspective of characters representing the three major ethnic groups (the “tribes” mentioned in the title): the indigenous community, the Dutch and the Chinese. Another element that makes this book stand out is the female perspective, as two of the main protagonists are Maria, the daughter of the Dutch missionary Hambroeck, and Uma, an Aboriginal woman with a strong character. The main Chinese character is Chen Ze, a man in charge of a merchant ship
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