Monday Memes: What are you reading? What’s in your mailbox?

memes 2 Minutes

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Hosted by: The Book Date

What I read last week:

Under a Red Sky: Memoir of a Childhood in Communist Romania by Haya Leah Molnar.  Man, what a story.  I’m not sure what else to say other than this was a real eye opener.  Having been a child in the 1980’s, you heard a lot about the evils of Communism, bread lines and the like, but you don’t really get what it all entailed.  Now, I have some inkling and, as an adult, I’m astounded.  But for Eva, as a child who knew no different, it was quite an interesting experience to see it all through her eyes.

Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison.  This is the first novella in the Dates from Hell anthology.  Loved seeing how Ivy came to work with Rachel.  Also happy to see Kisten in this story because I adore their relationship, even when he’s being a punk vamp.

What I’m currently reading: 

Dates From Hell by Kim Harrison, Lyndsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, & Lori Handeland. One down, three to go!

Red Horizons: The True Story of Nicolae & Elena Ceausescus’ Crimes, Lifestyle and Corruption by Lt. Gen Ion Mihai Pacepa

Kiss Her Goodbye by Susan Gee.  One of my outstanding Netgalley books.

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith.  In audio.

Juror #3 by James Patterson and Nancy Allen

What I’m reading next (hopefully):

I need to get started on my pile of print books about to fall over and bury me.  So, from my OWNtober list (via random draw):

Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca

The Wife by Alafair Burke

Plus another outstanding Netgalley book:

Like Never and Always by Ann Aguire

 

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Hosted by Mailbox Monday

Only one new book this week!

Library Haul: 

I had to renew two of the books I had out since I haven’t been doing very well with actually reading lately.  Good news is, one is now finished!

Mailbox Haul:

One book in my physical mailbox this week – The Black Ice by Michael Connelly, #2 in the Harry Bosch series.  I won this from a contest on The Book Date.

Purchased: 

I am happy to say that I have not purchased a book since September 10, 2018.  That’s thirteen days.  I think it might be a record.  Although I did buy a movie yesterday so, um, maybe I’m not doing as well as I thought?

Anyway… read anything good this past week?  Find any amazing surprises in your inbox?  (Watch anything interesting?)  Let me know!  Hope y’all have a wonderful week.

Published by Aymee

Avid reader, writer, and blogger. I love to talk about books, but anything is fair game with me. Books, movies, television, gardening, pets, whatever. You might find a little of all that here.

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42 thoughts on “Monday Memes: What are you reading? What’s in your mailbox?”

    1. Thank you! Under a Red Sky had its heavy moments, but since it’s written through the POV of a 6-9 year old girl, it’s not as hard of a read as it could have been. Her young eyes gives the horrors of their world a nice balance. I highly recommend it.

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      2. I picked this one up on a whim with an Audible credit then a friend told me how much they loved the narrator. He’s really good. Generally, I only listen to memoirs and the like in audio, but I’m liking this one.

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  6. I love The Cuckoo’s Calling. It’s one of the only crime series that I enjoy, plus the series just gets better! Let me know what you think of it!

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  7. I love the idea of Owntober! I’ve heard of Arctober but not Owntober and have to say it has a better ring! Now if my library books would just stop coming available! Under a Red Sky sounds really interesting, I really like books like that, that open us to the experience of others

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    1. I know, right? I made sure my holds list was mostly clear before I committed to this!

      Under a Red Sky was really good. I think a lot of it had to do with me being a kid during the 1980’s, when the Cold War and Russia is the Enemy was all you heard about. It was interesting to read a first-hand child’s account of what living under Communism was like.

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  9. Dates from hell sound good! I have been listening to audiobooks a lot also. I gor Cochlear Ear Implants a couple of tears ago and listening to people talk is the best way to train your brain. Then I understood people talking for the first tie in my whole life (I was born profoundly Deaf), and it floored me. I continuously listen to stuff in the effort to cram the last 36 years into my head lol.

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    1. I love all the authors in Dates From Hell and so far, it’s been really good.

      Oh how wonderful! I can’t even imagine what kind of adjustment that has been for you, but audiobooks would be a great way to immerse yourself in it. Technology is amazing, isn’t it?

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    1. It was really good and not nearly as sad as I had expected it to be. Yes, there are a ton of Holocaust memoirs – as there should be – but I’ve not come across many like this one. I wonder what the difference between North Korea and Romania might have been, that’s something I’m going to have to look into now. 🙂

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  11. Under A Red Sky sounds super interesting. I remember hearing about Communism in eastern Europe and I’m sure the book is very eye opening for those of us who didn’t live through it! Dates From Hell sounds like a trip too 🙂

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    1. Oh absolutely. Having grown up near the end of the Cold War, it was all Russia bad! But you were given very little reasoning as to why it was so bad. And I never remember any mention of Romania, not even in high school. So, it was definitely a learning experience.

      Dates from Hell has been fun!

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  14. Red Sky sounds a little bit like Forty Autumns. It was a memoir from a woman who as a very young woman fled East Germany, but her parents and brothers and sisters were left behind. It was really touching. I’m going to check out Red Sky.

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    1. I’ve not heard of Forty Autumns, but I’m going to have to read it now. I remember I was in high school when the Berlin Wall came down. I walked into my German class to find my teacher in tears because she never dreamed it would happen in her lifetime. She then told us all about how she managed to escape East Germany as they were building it.

      So um, yeah. 🙂 Thank you for the rec!

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  15. Under a Red Sky sounds so amazing. I was a teenager in the 80s, so I am very familiar with the topic, but it would provide a different understanding reading it through the eyes of someone who lived it. Dates from Hell is not my usual genre, but I want to read it because the blurb intrigued me. I like the idea of reading by random draw. I might need to try that. I recorded The Miniaturist on PBS, but haven’t had time to watch it yet. Have you seen it?

    Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you have a nice week.

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    1. Exactly, and to see it through someone who knew nothing else was interesting. She grows over the course of about 2 years from accepting things as they are to listening and questioning the adults she lives with to understand why Communism is so bad.

      Dates from Hell has been good so far, I need to get back to it soon.

      I have such a hard time deciding what to read next that I made a list of a handful of books I had piled up and used the Random.org generator to pick for me. Seemed safer that way. 🙂

      Thanks – and you as well!

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  16. I’m sitting here trying to think when was the last time I went thirteen days without buying a book and… I’m not sure haha! Congrats on your record 🙂

    I enjoyed The Cuckoo’s Calling, I hope you do too. Happy reading!

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    1. Now see, that is what the problem was! Hahaha. But thank you. It helps that I have enough unread books to get me through.

      I’m really enjoying it so far although I’m only four or so chapters in right now.

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    1. Thank you!

      Really? How cool is that! Her Hollows series is one of the few I was able to read right from the beginning, generally I’m sooooo far behind. But it is a great series.

      Thanks, you too. 🙂

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  19. Congrats on the Michael Connelly win. I haven’t read in that series for a number of years now but recall that I enjoyed them. I have been eyeing Under a Red Sky and I appreciate your comments. Happy Reading this coming week!

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    1. Thank you! I really enjoyed the first in the series and am anxious to read this one as well.

      Yay – good to know that my comments help. 🙂 It was a really interesting and enjoyable book.

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