FICTION
1. T IS FOR TRESPASS
by Sue Grafton
Putnam
Kinsey Millhone must contend with a woman who has stolen a nurse’s identity in order to take advantage of Kinsy’s elderly neighbor.
2. THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR
by Dean Koontz
Bantam
A woman who rescues golden retrievers and one special dog she takes in are shadowed by an evil stranger.
3. FOR ONE MORE DAY
by Mitch Albom
Hyperion
A troubled man gets a last chance to reconnect and restore his relationship with his dead mother.
4. DOUBLE CROSS
by James Patterson
Little, Brown
Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, a police detective, confront a Washington killer who boasts of his killings on his own Web site, as well as an old adversary who has escaped from prison.
5. A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
by Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead
A friendship between two women in Afghanistan against the backdrop of 30 years of war.
6. WORLD WITHOUT END
by Ken Follett
Dutton
Love and intrigue in Kingsbridge, the medieval English cathedral town at the center of Follett’s Pillars of the Earth.
7. STONE COLD
by David Baldacci
Grand Central
Members of Washington’s Camel Club are being murdered to prevent them from uncovering government secrets.
8. THE CHOICE
by Nicholas Sparks
Grand Central
How a North Carolina man’s choices play out in his life; from the author of At First Sight.
9. PLAYING FOR PIZZA
by John Grisham
Doubleday
An American third-string quarterback joins the Italian National Football League’s Parma Panthers.
10. HOME TO HOLLY SPRINGS
by Jan Karon
Viking
The Mitford character Father Tim returns to his native town to reconnect with family and friends.
11. THE CHASE
by Clive Cussler
Putnam
In the early 20th century, a detective tracks a killer all over the West.
12. BOOK OF THE DEAD
by Patricia Cornwell
Putnam
The forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta opens a private practice in Charleston, South Carolina.
NONFICTION
1. I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN YOU!)
by Stephen Colbert et al
Grand Central
The wit and wisdom of the mock pundit of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report.
2. BOOM!
by Tom Brokaw
Random House
The retired news anchor recalls and assesses the 1960s.
3. BORN STANDING UP
by Steve Martin
Scribner
Martin, now a writer and actor, recalls his years as a stand-up comedian, from the early 1960s to 1981.
4. AN INCONVENIENT BOOK
by Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe
Threshold Editions
The conservative TV and talk-radio host offers his solutions to problems including global warming, and poverty.
5. CLAPTON
by Eric Clapton
Broadway Books
The great guitarist looks back on his life and his music.
6. RESCUING SPRITE
by Mark R. Levin
Pocket Books
A family's love for an older dog they adopted.
7. GOOD DOG. STAY
by Anna Quindlen
Random House
Life lessons from a black Lab.
8. QUIET STRENGTH
by Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker
Tyndale
A memoir by the first black coach to win a Super Bowl. (He did it with the Indianapolis Colts in February.)
9. A FAMILY CHRISTMAS
edited by Caroline Kennedy
Hyperion
Poetry, prose and lyrics from a diverse group of authors.
10. THE AGE OF TURBULENCE
by Alan Greenspan
Penguin Press
A memoir by the longtime chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
11. THE NINE
by Jeffrey Toobin
Doubleday
A portrait of the Supreme Court since the Reagan administration focuses on the influence of its moderates.
12. LONE SURVIVOR
by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson
Little, Brown
The only survivor of a Navy SEAL operation in northern Afghanistan describes the battle, his comrades and his courageous escape.
13. MUSICOPHILIA
by Oliver Sachs
Knopf
The neurologist and author of Awakenings examines the interaction between music and the brain.
Feb. 17 to Feb. 23 “Japanese city is bombed,” screamed the banner in bold capital letters spanning the front page of the US daily New Castle News on Feb. 24, 1938. This was big news across the globe, as Japan had not been bombarded since Western forces attacked Shimonoseki in 1864. “Numerous Japanese citizens were killed and injured today when eight Chinese planes bombed Taihoku, capital of Formosa, and other nearby cities in the first Chinese air raid anywhere in the Japanese empire,” the subhead clarified. The target was the Matsuyama Airfield (today’s Songshan Airport in Taipei), which
For decades, Taiwan Railway trains were built and serviced at the Taipei Railway Workshop, originally built on a flat piece of land far from the city center. As the city grew up around it, however, space became limited, flooding became more commonplace and the noise and air pollution from the workshop started to affect more and more people. Between 2011 and 2013, the workshop was moved to Taoyuan and the Taipei location was retired. Work on preserving this cultural asset began immediately and we now have a unique opportunity to see the birth of a museum. The Preparatory Office of National
China has begun recruiting for a planetary defense force after risk assessments determined that an asteroid could conceivably hit Earth in 2032. Job ads posted online by China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) this week, sought young loyal graduates focused on aerospace engineering, international cooperation and asteroid detection. The recruitment drive comes amid increasing focus on an asteroid with a low — but growing — likelihood of hitting earth in seven years. The 2024 YR4 asteroid is at the top of the European and US space agencies’ risk lists, and last week analysts increased their probability
On Jan. 17, Beijing announced that it would allow residents of Shanghai and Fujian Province to visit Taiwan. The two sides are still working out the details. President William Lai (賴清德) has been promoting cross-strait tourism, perhaps to soften the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attitudes, perhaps as a sop to international and local opinion leaders. Likely the latter, since many observers understand that the twin drivers of cross-strait tourism — the belief that Chinese tourists will bring money into Taiwan, and the belief that tourism will create better relations — are both false. CHINESE TOURISM PIPE DREAM Back in July
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