To China, Brooklyn New York, Congo in Africa and to the South in the American Civil War.

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. Life in Broolklyn NY between 1900-the onset of WWI. It chronicles the bustling city and the various interactions of the new immigrants and poverty woven therein. Touching and so real. It took me right back there I could swear I lived there, just did not.
"The Good Earth" by Pearl S Buck Life in pre-revolution China and the dependence on the earth for prosperity or starvation. The fate of the poor and the aspirations of the poor and the reality of it all. A once in a lifetime experience.
"The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver Pre and Post colonial Africa with the missionaries interactions with the natives. I grew up in Africa but have never described it all so well.
"The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. War, from the South's men. The civil war
"Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger. I met beautiful characters that I cried when the book ended. They were like my own brothers and sisters with a touch of spirituality that I swear I have experienced.

I have read the above books within the last 2 months and they were well worth my time and now a part of my life.

Also try "Just So Stories" by Rudyard Kipling. Read this to yourself and to one of your young little friends. It is a treat to be in the company of the Parsee with the hat that shone with oriental splendor!

I have been recommending this a lot because I have been dragged into realities I was oblivious of and enjoyed myself greatly delving in.

What do you get if you hybrid satire, dark humor, science fiction, and pessimism? You get Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., a man who wrote about catastrophically horrendous moments but made them so amusing that he became one of the twentieth century’s leading American authors.