Balzac and The Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Set in the early 1970s during the later stages of China's Cultural Revolution. Two city-bred teenage best friends are sent to a backward mountainous region for Maoist re-education. Their attempt to impress a lovely young lady is informative and fun.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Jacob is about to graduate from veterinary school when an accident leaves him with no home, family or career in the middle of the Great Depression. Almost by accident, he joins the circus. There he falls in love with two women, Marlena and Rosie the elephant. This romantic novel travels back and forth in time between Jacob's present day nursing home and his suprisingly harsh world of the 1930s circus.