A discussion of Vietnam reminded me of a lovely book that came out a few years ago, called "The Book of Salt." It's by Monique Truong.
The book is set in Paris, for the most part, in the home of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, although it is not really about them. It's narrated by their Vietnamese cook Bihn, a gay man who has emigrated from Vietnam to France, although he does not speak English, or not much.
This is one of those books I'll read several times before I begin to get the whole story, simply because the writing carries me away.
On a whole different note, I've just started "My Guantanamo Diary" by Mahvish Rukhsana Khan. As an American-born daughter of Afghani parents and a law student fluent in Pashto, she volunteered to work as a translator for attorneys working pro bono for those held in Guantanamo. It's promising; I 'll let you know how it goes.
Oh - the subtitle is "The Detainees and the Stories they Told Me."
