Currently reading
The Golden Slipper and Other Problems for Violet Strange
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Skippy Dies
Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Blind Assassin
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
How To Teach English
Great collection of phrases. Uses pinyin with tone marks, with phonetics, which might be helpful but not entirely accurate. For example, ong is said to be pronounced "oong", and ang is said to be like the sound in "angst", which is a problematic example, because some Americans might pronounce with it with the "æ". But if you say it like this, and not like this you should be fine.Doesn't have characters, which I guess is fine considering it's a "for Dummies" book. But if it did that'd bump it up to 4 stars.
Ultimate goal is to be familiar with these basic phrases before a trip to China.