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.
Wooden houses wedged between concrete, crumbling brick facades with roofs gaping to the sky, and tiled art deco buildings down narrow alleyways: Taichung Central District’s (中區) aging architecture reveals both the allure and reality of the old downtown. From Indigenous settlement to capital under Qing Dynasty rule through to Japanese colonization, Taichung’s Central District holds a long and layered history. The bygone beauty of its streets once earned it the nickname “Little Kyoto.” Since the late eighties, however, the shifting of economic and government centers westward signaled a gradual decline in the area’s evolving fortunes. With the regeneration of the once
Even by the standards of Ukraine’s International Legion, which comprises volunteers from over 55 countries, Han has an unusual backstory. Born in Taichung, he grew up in Costa Rica — then one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — where a relative worked for the embassy. After attending an American international high school in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, Han — who prefers to use only his given name for OPSEC (operations security) reasons — moved to the US in his teens. He attended Penn State University before returning to Taiwan to work in the semiconductor industry in Kaohsiung, where he
On May 2, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), at a meeting in support of Taipei city councilors at party headquarters, compared President William Lai (賴清德) to Hitler. Chu claimed that unlike any other democracy worldwide in history, no other leader was rooting out opposing parties like Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). That his statements are wildly inaccurate was not the point. It was a rallying cry, not a history lesson. This was intentional to provoke the international diplomatic community into a response, which was promptly provided. Both the German and Israeli offices issued statements on Facebook
Perched on Thailand’s border with Myanmar, Arunothai is a dusty crossroads town, a nowheresville that could be the setting of some Southeast Asian spaghetti Western. Its main street is the final, dead-end section of the two-lane highway from Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city 120kms south, and the heart of the kingdom’s mountainous north. At the town boundary, a Chinese-style arch capped with dragons also bears Thai script declaring fealty to Bangkok’s royal family: “Long live the King!” Further on, Chinese lanterns line the main street, and on the hillsides, courtyard homes sit among warrens of narrow, winding alleyways and
RSS