類別：政治，歷史

Promises Betrayed : Waking Up from the American Dream
出賣承諾:自美國夢甦醒
- by Bob Herbert

紐約時報專欄作家探討美國理想和美國現實社會的鴻溝，分析一般人民因為政治上的決定要付出的代價。從政黨政治的運作到流行文化，從種族衝突到刑事正義，極少新聞從業人員以市井小民的真實故事如此生動的反映美國夢和美國現實的掙扎。作者質疑所謂美國夢想所代表的價值觀究竟是美國人努力堅持的理想，還是空談而已...

Summary
本書作者舉例說明近年來在美國社會裡，所謂美國夢所代表的價值觀，例如公平、正義並沒有真正落實在工人階層、少數族群、孩童以及其他弱勢團體。作者以記者的身分帶領讀者觀察社會弱勢族群面對真實生活的種種問題，如何在美國夢的表向下，勉力維持尊嚴的活下來。作者以來自社會不同階層不同的案例，傲慢的技術官僚如何在真正執行時，往往用雙重標準，認定這些共通的道德尊嚴不適用於這些弱勢族群。作者藉此強調新聞從業人員的職業信條：安撫受創者，揭發苟且偷安者。

作者 About the Author
Bob Herbert，自1993年起為紐約時報專欄作家，先後在 美國全國廣播公司NBC任職通訊員、記者，並且為New York Daily News的編輯。他同時在布魯克林學院及哥倫比亞大學教授新聞學，從多次以其新聞報導及評論獲獎，現居紐約。

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類別：小說

WICKED / SON OF WITCH
綠野仙蹤前傳 – 綠野巫蹤 / 女巫之子
- by Gregory Maguire

精裝, 416頁/ 329頁

此書 WICKED 已改編為百老匯熱門舞台劇, 並獲多項東尼獎. 綠野仙蹤一開場, 桃樂絲帶著小狗因著龍捲風來到歐茲國, 降落時房子剛好壓死了壞女巫, 得到歐茲村民的感謝. 到這裡是大家耳熟能詳的故事. 但當桃樂絲來到歐茲國之前呢? 彩虹後面又是怎樣的景象及故事? 好人和壞人的分別是那麼涇渭分明嗎? 作者以現代版的人性筆法述說歐茲國的故事...

Summary
SON OF A WITCH: A decade after the Witch Elphaba has melted away, the young man Liir is discovered bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully. Shattered in spirit as well as in form, he is tended by the mysterious Candle, a foundling in her own right.

Liir is only one part of the world that Elphaba left behind. As a boy hardly in his teens, he is asked to help the needy in ways in which he may be unskilled. Is he Elphaba’s son? Has he power of his own? Can he locate his supposed half-sister, Nor, last seen in shackles in the Wizard’s protection? Can he survive in an Oz little improved since the death of the Wicked Witch of the West? Can he learn to fly?

In SON OF A WITCH, Gregory Maguire suggests that the magic we locate in distant, improbable places like Oz is no greater than the magic inherent in any hard life lived fully, son of a witch or no.

The book is filled with modern-day international political parallels. For example, The Emerald City builds up its national guard to make it look like there's an outside threat (when actually there isn't), and causes unwarranted attacks on foreign civilians to prompt war and stir up patriotism at home. It's also a wonderful modern day fairy tale with fantastical elements...

作者 About the Author
Gregory Maguire is the bestselling author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the basis for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. Maguire has lectured on art and culture at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the DeCordova Museum as well as at conferences at home and abroad. An occasional reviewer for the New York Times Book Review, he lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts. 作者網站

* CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER (1999) sold:
France/Editions du Rocher; German/DTV; Hebrew/Hed Arzi; Korea/Hyundae;
Portuguese (Brazil)/Jose Olympio; Chinese (complex characters)/Business Weekly

* LOST (2001) sold: France/Editions du Rocher; Portuguese (Brazil)/Jose Olympio

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類別：非小說 時事議題 社會學

Is the American Dream Killing You? – How the Market Rules Our Lives
別讓美國夢壓垮你!
- by Paul Stiles

精裝 304頁
HarperBusiness預定於2005年 10月出版

壓力, 猜忌, 心力交瘁, 時間壓力, 競爭...是今日我們大多數人的生活寫照. 為何我們的生活會如此苦惱及複雜? 作者認為是因為所謂的自由市場已成為一匹無法控制的脫韁野馬. 作者解釋就好比我們需要呼吸氧氣, 但百分之百的純氧卻對人體有害. 我們身處的世界, 社會的每一層面已完全為市場所掌控, 所謂的市場已遠遠超越原本的經濟面 而影響到我們的宗教信仰, 家庭, 男女關係, 種種生活的現實面 除非我們能找到控制市場的方法 否則真正的快樂將永遠難尋...

作者 About the Illustrator
Paul Stiles 曾經在冷戰末期擔任情報官, 90年代中期任職華爾街的Merrill Lynch, 並曾將他在華爾街的經歷寫成一本暴露其中腐敗的書

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類別：哲學，人文

THE COURTIER AND THE HERETIC: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World
朝臣與異教徒-史賓諾莎、萊布尼茲及其對現今影響深遠的宗教觀
- by Matthew Stewart

17世紀末期在歐洲的思想史上是一個重要的轉折時代，在這段時期所孵化、孕育出的理念，拉開了18世紀啟蒙運動的序幕。其中史賓諾莎與萊布尼茲，更是在這段時期於哲學、數學、科學的領域中，兩位處於中心的人物。本書作者把焦點放在史賓諾莎與萊布尼茲之間的交流與影響，包括了在信仰上，因對上帝的不同看法所造成之衝突與矛盾，及兩人在哲學思想上互相激盪所產生的光芒。雖然此議題有一定程度之艱澀，但作者在書內加上許多他們往來之私人信件，生動的描述2位哲學家的家世背景及個性，使本書有如小說般的戲劇性。讓讀者能夠以較輕鬆的心情來閱讀，讀畢又能對當時的情況有一番了解，兼具閱讀的樂趣及吸收新...

Summary
史賓諾莎年長於萊布尼茲，他出生於猶太家庭，但卻接受理性主義，認為上帝和自然是屬於同一件事物。此言論在當世所造成的嚴重性使他被開除教籍，故被稱為『無神論的猶太人』。史氏的言論深深吸引著萊布尼茲，萊氏還曾於1676年親自到海牙去拜訪他，且雙方有多次的通信。在思想史上，萊布尼茲被後世稱為啟蒙運動之父，他所提出的『單子論』把宇宙分析為乃由『單子』組成，而上帝的作用僅於創造了這個世界。於是，史氏與布氏在宗教上，史氏所謂信仰的神對一般人來說根本就不是傳統認知的神聖上帝，而萊氏所指的上帝甚至連他自己都不相信。2位偉大的哲學家所因其不同的個性及生活的方式，各自創造出自己的哲學觀，但彼此卻又互相影響對方。

另外，作者想表明的另一點是，在此時期誕生的關於神性上帝與自然上帝的爭論與矛盾，不只在啟蒙運動時代牽引出後代世人完全不同的價值觀，其矛盾直到今日仍然存在。

作者 About the Author
Stewart，他在牛津大學取得其博士學位。他賣掉了所擁有的顧問管理公司，已貢獻自身於追求更高精神層次上的事物。

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類別：一般小說

Baby Shower
- by YAMADA Akane

ISBN:4-09-386143-9, 239P 19cm
小學館（2004-09-20出版

未婚、39歲，想生小孩。所以，開始找孩子的爹吧！

Summary
身為電視攝影師的今日子與料理節目助理的美園兩人都是39歲的女性。雖然在工作上獲得成就感，戀愛方面也很平順；但，在即將40歲前，突然感到不安。沒有「小孩」的人生，真的好嗎？如果這樣下去，就生物學的觀點，即將成為高齡產婦之一。於是，美園決定成為「母親」，因此與今日子一同開始尋找「父親」的歷程。婚外情的對象、偶然遇見的年下之男…過程中遇見的種種男性，她們找到的幸福是21世紀新家族的組成方法...

作者 About the Author
出生於東京。畢業於早稻田大學第一文學部俄羅斯文學系。曾就職於電視製作公司，1990年開始成為自由的電視製作人。之後，曾多次參與電視劇的腳本撰寫、製作以及紀錄片的製作工作。1995年以小說「Owari no iroirona katachi（直譯：結束的各種形式）」獲得文學界新人賞。

* 第4回小學館文庫小說賞得獎作品

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類別：歷史

砂糖的世界史
作者：川北 稔

砂糖於十六世紀成為世界商品, 成為藥品. 裝飾品. 香料. 甜料和醃漬物等五種功用. 十七世紀開始, 砂糖大量流入歐洲, 讓加勒比海上的島嶼, 成為砂糖種植園, 而甘蔗的栽種. 也牽引出真正的奴隸制度...

Summary
砂糖經由回教徒傳入地中海, 砂糖隨著可蘭經往西向歐洲發展, 經由茶. 咖啡的相遇. 形成現在人不可缺乏的食品...

作者 About the Author
川北 稔（KAWAKITA MINORU）
1940年出生於大阪市。1963年畢業於京都大學文學部、京都大學文學研究科博士課程（專攻西洋史學）肄業；文學博士。現任 大阪大學文學部教授。著有《工業化的歷史前提——帝國與士紳》、《民眾的大英帝國——近代英國社會與美洲移民》，譯有華勒斯坦的《近代世界體系》（以上為岩波書局出版），以及�s甜度與權力——砂糖敘述的近代史�t等多本書籍

類別：青少年小說

Gregor the Overlander (Book One of The Underland Chronicles)
地下城傳奇
- by Suzanne Collins

十一歲的葛雷住在紐約的公寓，他隨著妹妹穿過洗衣間的一道柵欄時，一頭栽進了城市下方的地下城。那裡的居民和巨型蜘蛛、蝙蝠、蟑螂、老鼠勉強共存，但是這種不安的和平共存即將瓦解。

葛雷當然不想和這群恐怖的動物起任何衝突，他只想趕快找到回家的路。但他卻發現了一個奇異的預言，預告他在地下城將會扮演某種角色，並且解開他畢生最大的秘密。他並不知道繼續追查將會改變他，以及地下城...

作者 About the Author
Since 1991, Suzanne Collins has had a successful and prolific career writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For preschool viewers, she penned multiple stories for the Emmy-nominated Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear and Oswald the Octopus. She also co-wrote the critically acclaimed Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment’s Clifford’s Puppy Days, which premiered in September 2003.

Excited by the possibilities of a more literary form, she felt a strong urge to explore bringing characters and ideas to life in books. Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find…? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander. Like Alice, an eleven-year old boy named Gregor takes a very long fall beneath his world. When he reaches the Underland, in addition to a strange society of humans, he finds a host of – creatures-rats, cockroaches, spiders – which also inhabit his native New York City. But the Underland versions are very large, able to speak their minds, and teetering on the brink of war.

Gregor the Overlander is the first in a five-part fantasy series entitled The Underland Chronicles. In each book Gregor, who is implicated in a string of dark prophecies, must find the courage and moral fortitude to deal with a different aspect of war.

Published in 2003, Gregor the Overlander met with critical acclaim, becoming a Kirkus Reviews Editors' Choice and a New York Public Library's 100 Books for Reading and Sharing selection. Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane was published in 2004. Even though Gregor swears he will never return, he has no choice but to go back to the Underland when his sister, Boots, is kidnapped by the Underlanders. According to Booklist "...fans will not be disappointed with this exciting, action-packed sequel, whose ending suggests more adventures to come."

Suzanne Collins lives in Connecticut with her family.


*版權已售出地區: Catalan, German, Italy, Spain, Russia, UK

Booklists/Awards
Gregor the Overlander
2003
Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Choice
NYPL 100 Books for Reading and Sharing
Gregor and the Prohecy of Bane
2004

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類別：青少年小說

The Riddles of Epsilon
艾席倫之謎
- by Christine Morton-Shaw

潔絲一家搬到偏遠的隆島，位於英國海岸之外。她的父母正在整修一幢舊房子，潔絲在旁邊發現了一座無人農舍，裡面有個怪異的幽靈，有點像是鬼，卻又充滿令人安慰的能量。她還發現三個上鎖的箱子，每個箱子裡都裝著古老的文件，令她心動神眩。

潔絲慢慢發覺了隆島的秘密，她找到小男孩塞巴斯欽在一百年前留下的手稿，他的生活竟然與她互相輝映。更令她恐懼的是，他在一八九四年遭遇的危險，如今開始威脅潔絲和她的家人。某種黑暗的勢力已被喚醒，潔絲沒有多少時間應變...

Summary
Fourteen-year-old Jess White and her parents have recently moved to an island of the cost of England. There she is initiated into the world of Epsilon. On her first visit, the cottage feels alive to Jess, as if everything inside is watching her. Jess discovers an old bucket which is not an ordinary bucket – Epsilon reveals himself as an on-line identity to help Jess decipher the coded message projected in the bucket’s illuminations. Through this and other chat room messages, Epsilon’s riddles make Jess realize that she has been chosen to participate in a world of parallel time and ancient mystical secrets.

That night Jess dreams of a young boy, Sebastian Wren, drawing frantically in what appears to be here room and then running to her cottage, following the sounds of a flute. She awakes abruptly to realize that she can still hear the sound of a flute coming from the cottage. Jess runs there to find the young boy’s drawing and diary entry hidden in a flute. She reads with amazement that the dreamt of a girl sleeping in his bed and then running to the cottage – her dreamed of Jess...

作者 About the Author
Christine Morton-Shaw’s debut novel. She has written several picture books, including RUN, RABBIT, RUN, the English Association’s Best Children’s Illustrated Book of 2001 for the 4-11 age group. The author lives with her family in Sheffield, England.

* 版權已售出地區: UK

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類別：商業 職場

Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling : Career Strategies for Asians
跨越職場藩籬 : 亞洲人的教戰守策
- by Jane Hyun

作者指出,美國企業中亞裔員工的成長率驚人,但居管理階層的比例仍屬少數,源自於文化上的差異.東方文化所強調的群體決策與以和為貴的理念,在積極進取,充滿個人主義色彩的西方文化中卻可能成為晉升的阻礙.如何"知己知彼,百戰百勝"?看本書為讀者剖析...

Summary
MYou're educated and ambitious. Sure, the hours are long and corporate politics are a bane, but you focus on getting the job done, confident that you will be rewarded in the long run. Yet, somehow, your hard work isn't paying off, and you watch from the sidelines as your colleagues get promoted. Those who make it to management positions in this intensely competitive corporate environment seem to understand an unwritten code for marketing and aligning themselves politically. Furthermore, your strong work ethic and raw intelligence were sufficient when you started at the firm, but now they're expecting you to be a rainmaker who can "bring in clients" and "exert influence" on others. The top of the career ladder seems beyond your reach. Perhaps you’ve hit the bamboo ceiling.

For the last decade, Asian Americans have been the fastest growing population in the United States. Asians comprise the largest college graduate population in America, and are often referred to as the "Model Minority" – but they continue to lag in the American workplace. If qualified Asians are entering the workforce with the right credentials, why aren't they making it to the corner offices and corporate boardrooms?

Career coach Jane Hyun explains that Asians have not been able to break the "bamboo ceiling" because many are unable to effectively manage the cultural influences shaping their individual characteristics and workplace behavior -- factors that are often at odds with the competencies needed to succeed at work. Traditional Asian cultural values can conflict with dominant corporate culture on many levels, resulting in a costly gap that individuals and companies need to bridge. The subtle, unconscious behavioral differences exhibited by Asian employees are often misinterpreted by their non-Asian counterparts, resulting in lost career opportunities and untapped talent.

Never before has this dichotomy been so thoroughly explored, and in this insightful book, Hyun uses case studies, interviews and anecdotes to identify the issues and provide strategies for Asian Americans to succeed in corporate America. Managers will learn how to support the Asian members of their teams to realize their full potential and to maintain their competitive edge in today’s multicultural workplace.

作者 About the Author
HJane Hyun財星五百大企業人力資源部的顧問
Jane Hyun is a career coach, human resources consultant and diversity strategist to Fortune 500 companies. Her corporate experience includes roles in business and HR functions at JP Morgan, Deloitte & Touche, and Resources Connection. She has written for Monster.com, the Five O'Clock Club, and speaks regularly to corporations, alumni groups, schools, and industry associations. She serves on the Advisory Board for the Diversity and Inclusion Institute at Bennett College. She graduated from Cornell University and lives in New York City.

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