Mailbox Monday & What I'm Reading

Warning: You are about to read about the arrivals in my mailbox for the past week. You may become jealous of all the super new books I've gotten, or possibly fill up your TBR on Goodreads or Shelfari, if there is a limit. So look out; here's my Mailbox Monday, hosted by Marcia @ The Printed Page.
My friend Mary gave me Brunonia Barry's The Lace Readerto borrow. She may not get it back for a while with all the ARCs and library books I've got lined up!

I received The Triumph of Deborahby Eva Etzioni-Halevy, as an unsolicited review, sent to me by the author.
Sourcebooks did me a good one this week with My Own Personal Soap Opera by Libby Malin, Beautiful People by Wendy Holden, and The Founding by Cynthia Harrod Eagles.
Those will definitely keep me busy for a while!
I'll be finishing A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell tonight. This is a great historical fiction about Italy in late 1943-45 after the Germans took over. The Italian people saved over 40,000 Jews, as well as having a strong resistance movement of small independent cells. It also has maps, and you know how I like that!

I listened to Philippa Gregory's The White Queen. I haven't done an audio book in over ten years, and I didn't really care for this one. I think it was a combination of the narrator, who never changed her tone, speed, or expression, and the writing. Things I found a little pesky, but could skip, in Ms. Gregory's books when I read them annoyed me to no end while listening, because they couldn't be skipped. Just as an example, she often has her characters give passionate speeches with short, choppy, redundant phrases. So the monotone of this particular reader really got to me on those. I definitely enjoyed the story, so I'll stick to reading Philippa Gregory's future books.

I also finished Dark Harbor on audio and really enjoyed it. This was David Hosp's first novel, and since I had reviewed his most recent, Among Thieves a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be a good place to start with an audio book. It was an excellently paced story, with a great twist at the end that I didn't see coming until it was almost upon me. I really liked this narrator, who spoke quickly when characters were excited, did special voices, and paused with a scene change. I've already put the next one on hold at my library.
I have four books lined up to read this week, but probably won't get to all of them. First, The Triumph of Deborah, as I promised to read it soon. Then three mysteries from the library; Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton, the first of the Hamish MacBeth books [I reviewed the most recent, Death of a Valentine, last week.], Silent in the Grave, a historical mystery by Deana Raybourn, and Sue Grafton's latest U is for Undertow. Only 5 more left!
I'll be visiting the other participants for What are You Reading On Monday? at J.Kaye's Book Blog, then I'll ave to add a whole bunch more to my TBR. So, what are YOU reading this week?