“Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven” ($13.99, Grand Central Publishing Trade Paperback) is the mother of all cautionary tales for college students thinking about heading halfway across the world to a country they’ve never visited with someone they barely know. Author Susan Jane Gilman set out in 1986 to see the People’s Republic of China, as well as dozens of other countries, with her friend Claire, whose name has been changed to protect the innocent. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that everyone is lucky the outcome wound up costing only tens of thousands of dollars and they were actually allowed to leave China. Gilman went on to become a successful journalist and lives in Switzerland, and this tale is a riveting glimpse into a filthy, backward China that nonetheless often captivated Gilman and her fellow travelers, many of whom were Europeans also taking advantage of the newly, but barely, relaxed visitation regulations. Most of what Gilman and crew experienced to get around makes fussing about not getting a window seat on the plane seem positively obnoxious. Kyle Wagner
