The following books are all worth reading, particularly the triple-starred works, and have been of use and interest during my travels in China and the compilation of this book. You'll find reviews for most of the titles below at www.amazon.com.
Biographies
Jung Chang, Wild Swans
Jung Chang & Jon Halliday, Mao: The Unknown Story
Richard Evans, Deng Xiaoping and the Making Of Modern China
Ma Jian, Red Dust: a Path Through China
John Man, Genghis Khan
Anchee Min, Red Azalea: Life and Love in China
Philip Short, Mao: A Life
Marina Warner, The Dragon Empress
Adeline Yeh Mah, Fallen Leaves
Classics
Li Bai & Du Fu, Endless River
Wu Cheng'en, Journey to the West
Confucius, The Book of Songs
Luo Guanzhong, Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Luo Guanzhong & Shi Nai'an, Outlaws of the Marsh aka The Water Margin
David R. McCraw, Du Fu's Laments from the South
Arthur Waley (trans) Monkey – an abbreviated version of Journey to the West
Cao Xueqin, The Dream of the Red Chamber
Sun Zi, The Art of War
Culinary
Francine Halvorsen, The Food and Cooking of China
Nina Simonds, The Food of China: a Journey for Food Lovers
Martin Yan, Martin Yan's Culinary Journey Through China
Culture & Society
Ian Buruma, Bad Elements: Chinese Rebels from LA to Beijing
Tom Clissold, Mr China
Ted Fishmen, China Inc
Oded Shenkar, The Chinese Century
Kenneth Wilkinson, World Cultures: China
XueXinran, The Good Women of China
Fiction
Andrea Barrett, The Middle Kingdom
Carolyn Choa & Su Li-Qun, The Picador Book of Contemporary Chinese Fiction
Wei Hui, Shanghai Baby
Lao She, Rickshaw Boy
Wang Shuo, Please Don't Call Me Human
Sid Smith, A House by the River
Annie Wang, People's Republic of Desire
Mo Yan, The Garlic Ballads
History
Patricia Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China
Peter Fleming, The Siege at Peking
Larry Habegger & James O'Reilly, Travellers Tales: China
Ann Paludan, Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors
J.A.G. Roberts, A History of China
Mao Zedong, Quotations of Mao Tse-Tung aka The Little Red Book
Historical Accounts
Zhang Boli, Escape from China: the Long Journey from Tian'anmen to Freedom
Jenni Daiches (aka Jenni Calder), Letters from the Great Wall
Peter Hopkirk, Foreign Devils on the Silk Road
Julia Lovell, The Great Wall
Gavin Menzies, 1421, The Year China Discovered the World
Anchee Min, Empress Orchid
Yan Mo, Red Sorghum
Marco Polo, The Travels
Sun Shuyun, The Long March
Edgar Snow, Red Star Over China
Lu Xun, Diary of a Madman & other stories
Hong Kong & Macau
Austin Coates, Myself a Mandarin
Jonathan Dimbleby, The Last Governor
Richard Mason, The World of Suzie Wong
Paul Theroux, Kowloon Tong
Frank Welsh, A History of Hong Kong
Martial Arts
Kumar Frantzis, The Power of Internal Martial Arts
Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do
Erle Montaigue, Power Taiji
Bruce Thomas, Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit
Religion & Philosophy
Kenneth Ch'en, Buddhism in China
Confucius, The Analects
Martin Palmer, Travels Through Sacred China
Lao Zi, Tao Te Ching
Travel Literature
Raymond Barnett, Jade and Fire: a Novel of Emerging China
Polly Evans, Fried Eggs with Chopsticks
Peter Fleming, One's Company: a Journey to China in 1933
Polly Greeks, Embracing the Dragon: a Woman's Journey along the Great Wall of China
Peter Hessler, Oracle Bones: Journey between China & the West
Peter Hessler, River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
W. Somerset Maugham, On a Chinese Screen
Simon Myers, Adrift in China
Paul Theroux, Riding the Iron Rooster
Colin Thubron, Behind the Wall
Lulu Wang, The Lily Theater: a Novel of Modern China
Simon Winchester, The River at the Center of the World: a Journey up the Yangtze and Back in Chinese Time
Gao Xingjian, One Man's Bible