books

- 圍城 -- 錢鍾書著*****
- 牛棚雜憶 -- 季羨林著*****
- The Sunday Philosophy Club : An Isabel Dalhousie Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith (***) a simple detective story, with some cultural element
- Whiteout by Ken Follett (Author) **** exciting
- For One More Day (Hardcover) by Mitch Albom (Author) ****
- The Fifth Mountain (Paperback) by Paulo Coelho
- 在書架上飛行梁科慶 ****
- 老鼠愛大米 / 余杰著 ****
- 棋王作者：張系國 *****
- 棋王作者：阿城 *****
- 白色城堡 Beyaz Kale 作者：奧罕‧帕慕克/著****
- The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford *****
- THE LIFE OF A USELESS MAN by Maxim Gorky *** worth reading
- 從絲路的盡頭開始 / 鄒頌華著. (a surprising delight.)*****
- 給新新人類 / 大江健三郎著 ; 賴明珠譯. Intellectual and full of humanity****
- 《墨攻》酒見賢一
- 尋羊冒險記村上春樹著,葉蕙譯. (*****) highly recommended.
- 《黑色裡的白色白色裡的黑色》劉以鬯。香港，獲益，1994。 (**** A good read) Links http://www.lawpun.com/,
- 《酒徒》。劉以鬯。台北，遠景，1979。
- 《春雨》。劉以鬯。香港，華漢文化，1985。
- The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
- 《五玉碟》張系國
- 《龍城飛將》張系國
- 《一羽毛》張系國
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (*****) A book with adventures and a bit of heart.
- Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (****+) A little confusing but interesting to read.
- Lost Horizon by James Hilton (*****) a beautiful book.
- macau architecture (****Informative)
- Into the Wild (Paperback) by Jon Krakauer (***)
- Uriel's Machine: Uncovering the Secrets of Stonehenge, Noah's Flood and the Dawn of Civilization by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas (From 2006.5.14)
- 给女兒的信三蘇 ***** excellent book
- 武俠编剧秘笈劉天賜 *** intereresting
- The Constant Gardener: A Novel by John le Carre

Readings (summer 2005) from 31 May 2005 to 2006 May 14

- The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers (*****from 2006.5.1-2006 5.14, a very inspiring book about regilon and philosophy)
- Istanbul : Memories and the City (Hardcover) by Orhan Pamuk (*****) excellent, don't miss this if you are a fan of his novels. Melancholy and refeshing. (R 2006.4.28)
- Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson (Funny, from 2006.4.10)
- The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter (***) Interesting and artistic.
- 《澳門街道的故事》, 林發欽主編 (*****) Excellent book on teh hostory of Macau, and amazingly it is written by a group of secodnary students in Macau.
- 《中東現場》作者﹕張翠容, 出版﹕馬可孛羅
- Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (2006 April 8 *****) A very interesting book.
- Millions by Joaquim Antonio Barroso Neto, Matthew (2006.2)
- Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (2006 April 11)
- Everything Is Illuminated : A Novel by Jonathan Safran (2006.2, 2006.3.16)(*** lost in the middle.)
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2006.2)(*** ok but too wordy)
- The Tin Drum (Vintage International) by Gunter Grass (2006.2)
- Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (**** a good book on practical pyschology, it clears up some of our misconception on decision making )
- Whisper of the Blade : Revolutions, Mayhem, Betrayal, Glory and Death by Erik Durschmied (****) An inspiring book about revolutions, and their relation with human suffering. mOst reovultion started at a good couae but nearly all end up with killing and deadth. It is hoped that in future during the improvements of human polical systems souls can be spared and suffering can be reduced to a minimum.

靈山 / 高行健著.(05.12.23***** excellent, a new world, a new experience)
The Ringmaster's Daughter by Jostein Gaarder (06.1.3.***** A book of many little intriging stories, each can be the plot of a best seller)
- Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt (05.12.01 Very interesrting , the book is about the life of Shakespeare and how that relates to his work****)
- From Third World to First : The Singapore Story: 1965-2000 by Lee Kuan Yew (start reading 2005 Oct 07)
- On War by Carl Von Clausewitz (www.audiobooksforfree.com) ((start reading 2005 Oct 06))
- Adventures of Ben Gunn by R F Delderfield (www.audiobooksforfree.com) (*** good)
- Beloved (Plume Contemporary Fiction) by Toni Morrison (***) very artistic
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin Classics) by James Joyce, Seamus Deane (Naxos audio book 3cds)
- 鄭和VS哥倫布張侃著三聯出版 (22 Sept. 005)
- In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien, Penguin USA Paper (Paperback - September 1995) (21 Sept. 2005)
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (****) funny and informative, Bryson's style never fails.(10 Sept. 005)
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, (****)(www.audiobooksforfree.com) (19 Sept. 005)
- Lord jim by Joseph Conrad (www.audiobooksforfree.com) **** nice (15 Sept. 005)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling (*****) Excellent (Audio book version, Aug 2005)
- The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman (*****)excellent book on current world affair.
- Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe -- by Laurence Bergreen; (July 2005)
- 澳門殖民滄桑中的文化雙面神鄭妙冰 (****) excellent (www.mingpao.com)(Aug 2005)
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson (June 2005)
Pour Your Heart into It : How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz (read by 16 July 2005)
The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki (read by 16 July 2005)
French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano (read by 12 July 2005)
- Memoirs of a Geisha : A Novel by ARTHUR GOLDEN (July 2005)
- Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton (cuurent reading from 31 May 2005)
- The cather in the rye by JD Salinger (****) an interesting book about adolescence. (april 2005)

Readings (summer 2004)

- The Thief Lord Cornelia Funke 14.5.2004 (interesting)
- For Whom the Bell tolls by Hemingway15.6.2004 (artistic)
- Digital fortress by Dan Brown (*** ok, not as good as Da vinci code, 7.2004)
- Living history by Hilary Clinton (6.2004-->?)
- The mother tongue by Bill Bryson.(6.2004-->?)
- The rule of four by Ian Caldwell (22.7.2004) Similar to Da vinci code not as good as that.
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (***** excellent but quite sad 23.7.2004)
- The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (***** Very good 25.7.2004)
- Tietam brown, by Mick Foley (**** a raw and fast mving book with a sad ending)
- 1421 The year China discovered America, by Gavin Menzies (www.1421.tv) (*****Excellent and exciting 2004.9.3))
- Old Malacaa by Sarnia Hayes Hoyt, Oxford University Press, a berif and consice history of the plave (****2004.8.20 in Singapore)
- Tear of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series)
- The family way -- by Tony Parsons (*****enjoyable read), A story of three sisters' paths to motherhood. A book about the psychology of men nd women in cities.
- Noughts and crosses by Malorie Blackman -- a story about racial discrimination in UK, excellent.
- N.P.: A Novel by Banana Yoshimoto, Ann Sherif (Translator) **** A very strange story about the New Japanese.
- Bleachers by John Grisham : a book about American football that I don't understand much.
- Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre -- ***** excellent, not an easy read to begin with but it is a nice book about living in the modern hostile world -- ugliness of human nature exposed (f 10 Nov 2004)
- Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin *** average, a simple children book (f 11 Nov 2004)
- Hoot (Newbery Honor Book) -- by CARL HIAASEN **** Interesting, simple and educational, concerns environmental issues.
- The Fire-Eaters (Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award (Awards)) -- Good read, with a taste of nostalgia. Though the story is about the Cabin crisis 40 something years ago, the fear of world destruction is still not 100% elimianted with too many nations have gained the abosulte destructive power. And the nations that posses it do not seem to aware the danger that they are playing.
- The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell ***** an execllent introduction to sociology and how trends emerge.
- The line of beauty by Alan Hollinghurst 2005-02-04 **** very artistic.
- Angels and demons by Dan Brown excellent ***** 3.2005
- Deception point by by Dan Brown excellent ***** 3.2005
- The Opium war a four-volume novel by Chan shun sun in Chinese, excellent E31.3.2005 (ISBN:957322660X http://www.ylib.com/search/ShowBook.asp?BookNo=N9004 ) (鴉片戰爭) 陳舜臣著 / 蕭志強譯
- A Painted House by JOHN GRISHAM **** a good and sentimental book E15.3.2005
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (B2005.4.1) (***** A must read classic)
- Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not the French by Jean-Benoit Nadeau, Julie Barlow (**** a very good introduction to the country including politics, education and people's attitude; it is so different to our perception of France as depeicted in Bristsh and American films-- at least the political side is not that romantic) (2005.4.10).
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond --(*****) It is an enjoyable read. The book has many little theories that explain why the world looks like what it is today. His target is to create a new thinking of makign history as a study of csience and hope we can predict somehow in future our societies will evolve. A very inspirying book even you don't agree every points he made.
- One Hundred Years of Solitude -- by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ***** Like had a strange dream, 2005 May.
- My Name Is Red by ORHAN PAMUK, ERDAG GOKNAR (Translator) ***** exceptional good, 2055 May.
- Memoirs of a Geisha : A Novel by ARTHUR GOLDEN (30 May 2005) *** a simple story, a little erotic but I suppose it was meant to be a love story. I don't know what feminist think, the Japanese way of thinking of the Geisha is difficult to be perceived by outsiders.
- 海邊的卡夫卡 / / 村上春樹 ; 賴明珠譯
- 挪威的森林 / / 村上春樹[著] ; 葉蕙譯.
- 舞・舞・舞吧 / / 村上春樹著 ; 葉蕙譯.

Partly read

- Seabiscuit by Laura HillenbrandI am David by Anne Holm, L. W. Kingsland (Translator) (Paperback - January 1, 2004)
- Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
- How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere by Larry King
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
- Why I Write (Great Ideas) by George Orwell

1776 by David McCullough
Winning by Jack Welch, Suzy Welch
- Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

Reading Plan

- Rob Roy by Walter Scott

Reading history

Science and scientists

- Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love -- by Dava Sobel (wordy and boring) *
- The Man Who Loved Only Numbers -- by Paul Hoffman (excellent)****
- The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary -- by simon Winchester (
- interesting but repetitive) ****
- Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time -- by Dava Sobel ***** (good history
- about a devoted researcher)
- A Brief History of Time by STEPHEN HAWKING ***** (excellent)
- The Selfish Gene -- by Richard Dawkins ***** (opening a new view for genetics)
- The Double Helix : A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA -- by James D. Watson (excellent book on how to get the
- Nobel prize) *****
- Fermat's Enigma : The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem -- by Simon Singh (good) *****

Philosophy

- The History of Western Philosophy -- by Bertrand Russell ***** (excellent)

Literature

- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Steven King (**** ) Publisher: Pocket Books; (July 1, 2002) ISBN: 0743455967 : Perhaps you
- have watched Steven King’s movies or read his thrillers (Green Miles, Misery etc.), but this is a not a novel but a memoir intermixed with
- teaching materials of how to write. You will learn how his famous books were written, and the stories behind these stories. On the road to
- becoming a writer, his account was particularly inspiring. He was a low paid worker in a laundry; however this did not discourage him to write.
- With exceptional endurance he finally became one of the most important writers of our time.

History

- Foreign Mud: the Anglo-Chinese opium War -- by Maurice Collis (brief, concise and to the point about this infamous war) *****
- The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another -- by W. Travis, Iii, Ph.D. Hanes, Frank Sanello ***** (a detail
- account of the westerners' involvement to this war, especially the inner struggles of some of the main characters, e.g. Elliot, Elgin. A detailed
- description of how and why the Chinese Royal Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) was burnt down. A fast moving book with certain sujective
- judgement of the men involved.
- MY EARLY LIFE: A ROVING COMMISSION – by Winston Churchill ***** (a must read for all young people)
- A Short History of the World -- by H. G. Wells **** ( the first integrated history book on all nations)

Children books but also good for adults

- The Hobbit -- by J.R.R. Tolkien (A must read) *****
- The Lord of the Rings -- by J.R.R. Tolkien (Needless to say anymore) *****
- Holes -- by Louis Sachar (One of the best for children and adults alike) *****
- His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Golden Compass (film) / Subtle Knife / The Amber Spyglass -- by Philip Pullman (A modern classic for children if
- your not a Catholic) *****
- The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (good and sentimental ) *****
- The Vampire's Assistant (Cirque du Freak, Book 2) by Darren Shan (Rubbish) *
- A Living Nightmare (Cirque du Freak, Book 1) by Darren Shan (Rubbish) *
- Treasure -- Island by Dickens (All kids should read this)*****

Fiction

- Man and Boy -- by Tony Parsons (modern classic, if an alien wants to known the interrelation between opposite sexes in cities, he/she/it should read
- all his books) ***** (ditto)
- Man and Wife -- by Tony Parsons ***** (ditto)
- One for My Baby -- by Tony Parsons **** (ditto)
- The Piano Tuner -- by Daniel Mason (An unusual setting , got a taste of English eccentricity) ****
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel (interesting but too far fetching) ***.
- The Godfather -- by Mario Puzo (One of the best books on criminals) *****
- Kane & Abel -- by Jeffrey Archer (Interesting, typical Jeffery Archer’s style) ****
- Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less -- by Jeffrey Archer (exciting and interesting, full of tricks, his best) *****
- Prison Diary 1,2 -- by Jeffrey Archer (ok, got some inside information about lives in UK prison, where everything can be obtained at a price,
- even drugs) ***
- When We Were Orphans -- by Kazuo Ishiguro (disappointed, too much coincidences) **
- The Da Vinci Code -- by Dan Brown (fast moving and exciting, one of the best thrillers I have read for years ) *****
- Envy -- by Sandra Brown (Badly written, boring and full of stereotyped people and scenarios) *
- Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (a good book about the struggles in Sri Lanka ) ***
- The testament by John Grisham (An interesting as well as educational novel) (****) Publisher: Doubleday Books; 1st ed edition (February
- 2, 1999) ISBN: 0385493800. Comment: An enormously rich old man killed himself and most of his relatives were waiting for the reading of the
- last will and imagining how to spend the inheritance. To everyone’s surprise, most of his money would go to the daughter who worked as a
- missionary in the middle of South America and whom he had not been in touched with for years. Then a drunken lawyer was sent to find the
- to-be-rich woman. The story is not about how one became rich but asks us to rethink what richness actually is.
- The Iliad – by Homer and translated by Rieu ( A must read classical for understanding human nature and wars. I am too naive and surprised to
- find no Trojan horse in this book, it turns out that the part was made up by Virgil in The Aeneid) *****
- THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA -- by Ernest Hemingway (The best book about human struggle in adverse situations) *****
- A Passage to India -- by E. M. Forster (a novel about human relation and a book that speeds up the termination of the British rule in
- India)*****
- Decline and Fall -- by Evelyn Waugh (witty and fun)*****
- Brideshead Revisited -- by Evelyn Waugh ***** (Excellent, an autobiographic account of the author. I have watched the TV movie too)
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley *****
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë ****
- The happy prince – oscar wilde ***** (Oscar’s best children book, also good for adults)
- The Stranger -- by ALBERT CAMUS ***** (Curious classic)
- The Trial -- by Franz Kafka ***** (A classic about human’s fear of any systems)
- Sons and Lovers -- by D. H. Lawrence ****
- Siddhartha -- by Hermann Hesse ***** (View about Buddhism)
- The Journey to the East -- by Hermann Hesse *****
- The Glass Bead Game: -- by Hermann Hesse (difficult to read and understand) ***
- The Metamorphosis – by Franz Kafka *****
- Heart of Darkness -- by Conrad ****
- The Mill on the Floss -- by George Eliot ****
- To Kill a Mockingbird -- by Harper Lee ***** A( An classic about America road to racial liberation)
- The Mystic Masseur -- by V.S. Naipaul ***** (A modern classic, funny)
- The bell -- Iris Murdoch.***** (One of her best)
- The Italian Girl -- by Iris Murdoch *** (Too ambitious)
- The Sandcastle -- Iris Murdoch.***** (One of her best, suitable for any middle age men with an obsession about younger women)
- Disgrace -- by J. M. Coetzee (*****A must read) Publisher: Penguin Books; (October 31, 2000) ISBN: 0140296409. Comment: One of
- the best known works by the Noble literary prize winner of 2003. It is about sexual harassment, politics and racial discrimination. The main
- character was a middle aged professor and his dilemma of being a white man in modern South Africa after the apartheid. I think we are too
- remote to actually realize the politics happening there but the story is more about human nature and humanity that we can all understand.
- The Age of Reason : by Jean-Paul Sartre **** (A little difficult to understand book about inner freedom – freedom on what one should and
- shouldn’t do. It takes time to digest)
- Cider with Rosie : a boyhood in the west of England by Laurie Lee (***** rhythmic, pastoral, capturing the Lives in Britain at
- the beginning of the 20th century ) *****

(Auto)Biography

- The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell -- by Bertrand Arthur Russell ***** (A must read for intellectuals)

Audio books

- The Canterbury Tales -- Geoffrey Chaucer *****
- The Complete Sherlock Holmes -- by ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE *****
- Ben-Hur -- by Lew Wallace *****
- Robinson Crusoe -- by Daniel Defoe *****
- Frankenstein -- by Mary Shelley ***
- The Wings of the Dove -- by Henry James *****
- The Portrait of a Lady -- by Henry James *****
- The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (sentimental) *****
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Puffin Classics) : Abridged *****
- The man with the iron mask by Alexandre Dumas *****
- The Vicar of Wakefield -- by Oliver Goldsmith ****
- Lady Windermere's Fan.—oscar wilde *****
- War and Peace -- by Leo Tolstoy *****
- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo *****
- Swann in Love -- by Marcel Proust *****
- Silas Marner -- by George Eliot ****
- Orlando -- by Virginia Woolf *****
- Pride and Prejudice -- by Jane Austen *****
- Sense and Sensibility -- by Jane Austen *****
- Notre-Dame De Paris by Victor Hugo *****
- Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, *****
- Smiley's People – by John Le Carr & reading *****
- To the Lighthouse -- by Virginia Woolf *****
- Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Penguin Classics) by Thomas Hardy *****
- Round the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne *****
- The Time Machine -- by H. G. Wells *****
- David Copperfield -- by Charles Dickens *****
- Great Expectations -- by Charles Dickens *****
- Harry Potter 1-5 -- by JK Rowling 1-4=***** , 5=***
- Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery *****
- The Turn of the Screw – by Henry James *****
- The Great Gatsby -- by Fitzgerald*****
- The Picture of Dorian Gray -- by OSCAR WILDE*****
- Lady Chatterley's Lover -- by D.H. Lawrence *****
- Don Quixote -- by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra *****
- Down among the dead men ?
- Masada never again *****
- The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire : Volumes 1, 2, 3 -- by EDWARD GIBBON *****

Recommendation and reviews for students

- http://mmlab.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/rbook/

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Partly read

Reading Plan

Reading history

Science and scientists

Philosophy

Literature

History

Children books but also good for adults

Fiction

(Auto)Biography

Audio books

Recommendation and reviews for students

百度百科 isoshu 愛搜書 ebook99 臺大電子書 haodoo 好讀 cnepub 掌上書苑雲台書屋