An old favorite of mine - Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. It's the true story of three generations of a Chinese family, the grandmother was a concubine of a warlord, the mother was a communist official, and the daughter experienced the Cultural Revolution as a teenager and young adult. Really great read, hard to put down. And gives you a great overview of Chinese history, in the past century.

You learn about the fascinating and disturbing history of the 20th century in China, and how the communist revolution was experienced through the eyes of these three women. The stories are amazing. Particularly interesting was the story of the author's father, who was a communist official. He tried hard to be an honest man during and after the communist revolution, but then was completely crushed by the cultural revolution.