Around the Bloc, Stephanie Elizondo Griest

This book is full of intriguing insights into these foreign cultures, and provides a good look at what life is like for the people of these countries. Throughout the book, the adventurous Griest volunteers at a Moscow children's shelter, edits propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party, experiences the lesser-known areas of Beijing (such as Chinese gay culture and controversial banned art), belly dances with professionals in Havana, and learns the truth about the Communism she's heard of all her life.

Anyone who has even a passing interest in other cultures and/or history would find this book fascinating. I certainly did. Of course, that's not to say that it's not without its problems. Several times, Griest introduces a new word in Russian, Mandarin Chinese, or Spanish and expects us to commit it to memory immediately. There were countless instances in which I couldn't remember for the life of me the meaning of words like "danwei," "laowai," or "devushka"; Around the Bloc would've been greatly approved with the inclusion of a glossary.

Also, quite often the long details of historical events became tedious, and sometimes seemed completely irrelevant in the context they were used.