Witty, engaging and attuned to the complexities of history and ethnicity, Steavenson -- a veteran journalist -- spins lyrical tales of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia as it crumbles around her in the late 1990s. She, helpfully, includes a glossary of ethnic groups in the region (Chechen, Georgian, and Abkhazian among them), and an excellent bibliography. Her stories, many revolving around a single character (she befriended many people, including a famous Chechen rebel), capture both the charm of the people and the desperate conditions in Georgia. At one point she admits "I was happy; charmed, drunk and beguiled like thousands of guests and invaders before me, in the land of hospitality." She certainly wasn't bored! A superb first book by a talented writer.  (CCS22, $17.95)