Well, googling Kassabova's book is how I found about your blog. And after reading this post now, I HAVE to comment, as I was just discussing it (the book) with a friend of mine yesterday.

There is a lot of subjectivity, when it comes to memories - when I was reading the book it amazed me how her childhood was almost identical to mine. I understand that there have to be similarities (the power outages, the panels, the pioneer organization) given that we're approximately the same age (she's about 5 years older) and living in a country where the idea was to make everyone "equal", but I am talking borderline identical here! Sure, her Russian neighbor was a physicist and mine an engineer, and she went to literature olympiads, while I did math, but all the similarities are just striking - the gypsy neighbors, the russian school, the relatives in the beautiful parts of Sofia, being pioneer leader, hell, even our daily breakfast was apparently the same (this is actually what got me thinking about it ;) ).

The thing is tho - my memories of that same childhood are a lot... happier:
I remember the mandatory day-care naps - I was spending the time day-dreaming about being a knight, so they did not bother me at all.
I remember the standardized canteen food - I miss the "mlyako s oriz" to this day ;)
I remember the power outages - what could be more fun for an 8 year old that playing "hide-and-seek" in the pitch black.

Which brings me to my point - clearly two people can look at the same objects and see two different things. And I do not know you, but you seem like a person that looks at everything with a positive attitude. Which makes me think, that come winter (which I guess is right about now, as I'm reading this with a half-year delay), despite all the muddy snow and the gray skies, you will still be smiling :)
I know I'm right :D