Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
by Alexandra Fuller
Random House, pb, $12.95

Fuller, known to friends and family as Bobo, grew up on several farms in southern and central Africa. But Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is more than a survivor's story: It is the story of one woman's unbreakable bond with a continent and the people who inhabit it, a portrait lovingly realized and deeply felt. "Here's a fascinating story of growing up in Rhodesia with eccentric parents who are passionately committed to a white presence in Africa. Things go badly, but Fuller tells of the beginning of Zimbabwe and her family's moves to Malawi and Zambia with both humor and poignancy." -Marcia Rider, Capitola Book Café, Capitola, CA

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
by James McBride
Riverhead Books, pb, $14.00

This "fascinating . . . superbly written" ("Boston Globe") national bestseller tells the story of James McBride and his mother--a rabbi's daughter, born in Poland and raised in the South, who fled to Harlem, married a black man, founded a church, and put 12 children through college. The Color of Water has been given to every 8th grader in this city since 1997 and has just been chosen as the inaugural title in Cambridge’s all-city book club, Cambridge Reads Cover to Cover. Join the discussion—get a copy today and stay tuned for information about discussion groups around the city throughout the summer and fall, facilitated by members of the community. Cambridge Reads Cover to Cover is cosponsored by Mayor Michael A. Sullivan's office, the Cambridge Public Library, the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, and the Harvard Book Store.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi
Pantheon Books, $17.95

An intelligent and outspoken only child, Satrapi--the daughter of radical Marxists and the great-granddaughter of Iran's last emperor--bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

Reading Lolita in Tehran
by Azar Nafisi
Random House, $23.95

Reading Lolita in Tehran is the astonishing true story of young women who met in secret each week to read and talk about forbidden Western classics--and their lives and loves--in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy
by Carlos Eire
Free Press, $25.00

Narrated with the urgency of a confession, Waiting for Snow in Havana is both an ode to a paradise lost and an exorcism. More than that, it captures the terrible beauty of those times in readers lives when they are certain they have died--and then are somehow, miraculously, reborn.