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.
Dec. 16 to Dec. 22 Growing up in the 1930s, Huang Lin Yu-feng (黃林玉鳳) often used the “fragrance machine” at Ximen Market (西門市場) so that she could go shopping while smelling nice. The contraption, about the size of a photo booth, sprayed perfume for a coin or two and was one of the trendy bazaar’s cutting-edge features. Known today as the Red House (西門紅樓), the market also boasted the coldest fridges, and offered delivery service late into the night during peak summer hours. The most fashionable goods from Japan, Europe and the US were found here, and it buzzed with activity
During the Japanese colonial era, remote mountain villages were almost exclusively populated by indigenous residents. Deep in the mountains of Chiayi County, however, was a settlement of Hakka families who braved the harsh living conditions and relative isolation to eke out a living processing camphor. As the industry declined, the village’s homes and offices were abandoned one by one, leaving us with a glimpse of a lifestyle that no longer exists. Even today, it takes between four and six hours to walk in to Baisyue Village (白雪村), and the village is so far up in the Chiayi mountains that it’s actually
These days, CJ Chen (陳崇仁) can be found driving a taxi in and around Hualien. As a way to earn a living, it’s not his first choice. He’d rather be taking tourists to the region’s attractions, but after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the region on April 3, demand for driver-guides collapsed. In the eight months since the quake, the number of overseas tourists visiting Hualien has declined by “at least 90 percent, because most of them come for Taroko Gorge, not for the east coast or the East Longitudinal Valley,” he says. Chen estimates the drop in domestic sightseers after the
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum last week, said the US is confident it can defeat the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Pacific, though its advantage is shrinking. Paparo warned that the PRC might launch a “war of necessity” even if it thinks it could not win, a wise observation. As I write, the PRC is carrying out naval and air exercises off its coast that are aimed at Taiwan and other nations threatened by PRC expansionism. A local defense official said that China’s military activity on Monday formed two “walls” east
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