FICTION
1. THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH
by Ken Follet
New American Library
Murder, arson and lust surround the building of a 12th-century cathedral.
2. ATONEMENT
by Ian McEwan
Anchor
A chronicle of the disintegration of an English family's idyllic life.
3. THE KITE RUNNER
by Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead
An Afghan-American returns to Kabul to learn how a childhood friend has fared.
4. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
by Sara Gruen
Algonquin
A young man - and an elephant - save a Depression-era circus.
5. THE 6TH TARGET
by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Grand Central
Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club probe the disappearance of several children in San Francisco.
6. THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB
by Kate Jacobs
Berkley
A group of women meet weekly at a New York City yarn shop.
7. LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Vintage International
A Colombian poet's love for a woman is tested.
8. THE ROAD
by Cormac McCarthy
Vintage
A father and son travel in post-apocalypse America.
9. BODY SURFING
by Anita Shreve
Back Bay
A woman takes a job as a tutor and becomes involved in a family's tensions and rivalries.
10. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
by Cormac McCarthy
Vintage
Mayhem ensues in this reissued novel after a West Texas man stumbles upon US$2 million in drug money.
11. THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL
by Philippa Gregory
Touchstone
A tale of courtly intrigue starring King Henry VIII and Mary and Anne Boleyn.
12. THE ALCHEMIST
by Paulo Coelho
HarperSanFrancisco
A tale about the lessons a shepherd boy learns during his travels to Egypt.
13. 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.
NONFICTION
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. THREE CUPS OF TEA
by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Penguin Books
A former climber builds schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
3. THE GIFT OF FEAR
by Gavin de Becker
Delta
Intuitive signals that can protect us from becoming the victims of violence.
4. THE INNOCENT MAN
by John Grisham
Delta
Grisham's first nonfiction book concerns a man wrongly sentenced to death.
5. THE AUDACITY OF HOPE
by Barack Obama
Three Rivers
The Illinois senator proposes that Americans move beyond their political divisions.
6. INTO THE WILD
by Jon Krakauer
Anchor
A man's obsession with the wilderness ends in tragedy.
7. DREAMS FROM MY FATHER
by Barack Obama
Three Rivers
The senator on life as the son of a black African father and a white American mother.
8. THE GLASS CASTLE
by Jeannette Walls
Scribner
The author recalls a bizarre childhood during which she and her siblings moved constantly.
9. 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN
by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey
Revell
A minister on the otherworldly experience he had after an accident.
10. THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA
by Michael Pollan
Penguin
Tracking dinner from the soil to the plate, a journalist juggles appetite and conscience.
11. CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR
by George Crile
Grove
A chronicle, by a veteran producer for 60 Minutes, of a congressman's efforts in the 1980s to steer billions of US dollars to the anti-Soviet side in Afghanistan.
12. THE GOD DELUSION
by Richard Dawkins
Mariner
An Oxford scientist asserts that belief in God is irrational.
13. THE TIPPING POINT
by Malcolm Gladwell
Back Bay/Little, Brown
A study of social epidemics, otherwise known as fads.
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
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
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