A few good books

Not gonna lie: I should have read waaaay more of these in the weeks before leaving for China. As it was, I read a few the year before and a few while I was in China. I recommend either reading these in advance or--better yet--buying them and taking them with you.

• Beijing Coma--Ma Jian
  
• Life and Death in Shanghai--Nien Cheng
  
• Wild Swans--Jung Chang
  
• The Good Women of China--Xinran
• Mao: A life--Jonathan Spence
  
• Nixon in China--Margaret MacMillan
  
• Red China Blues--Jan Wong
  

Keep in mind it's difficult if not impossible to get books critical of China when you're in China. Many of them are banned outright--even the English versions. The best English-language bookstore I've found so far is called Garden Bookstore, on the corner of Shanxi Nan Lu 陕西南路 and Changle Lu 长乐路. It's criminally expensive but has good selection and sells coffee and ice cream.