Tag: Silence for the Dead

Where Did My Books Take Me in May?

“Reading usually precedes writing. And the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer.” – Susan Sontag

Why do you read?

I read for entertainment, and I read to escape.

I am a mood reader. I don’t do well with a to-be-read list. I won’t follow it. I read whatever I am in the mood to read at that moment. Luckily, I have a pretty big selection of books to choose from. I am trying to get more books read now that I am retired and have more time. I would like to start utilizing the Library more.

I had a productive reading month. The past few days I have kind of fizzled out but most of the month, I always had a book or two to read.

I read seven books in May. All were mysteries.

The Agathas by Karen Glasgow – I gave it 5 stars.

The Last Word by Taylor Adams – I gave it 5 stars.

Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart – I gave it 4 stars.

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – I gave it 4 stars.

The Lost Women of Lost Lake (Jane Lawless #19) – I gave it 3 stars.

Silence for the Dead by Simone St James – I gave it 4 stars.

K is for Killers by Sue Grafton – I gave it 3 stars.

The star rating here is mine. I’m not sure how others rate them. A three or above is good for me. A three could be a book I enjoyed but I doubt I would read again. Mainly because I have so many books to read.

A four means I really liked it and would probably read it again someday.

A five is the holy grail for me. If I rated, it a five it means I felt it could someday be a classic for readers in the future.

It also is how I felt at the time and that too could change if I chose to re-read it. I think it is similar to when you go back to your childhood home as an adult. Everything always looks smaller. Re-reading could be like that and I could wonder how I ever rated it the first time.

Everyone has different interests. I may have rated a book that you felt was a five star or a one star and I rated it three. That is okay. It’s all each reader’s own perspective.

How do you decide if a book is worth keeping or re-reading? Do you re-read or keep books?

If you want to see my full review of these books, just click on the dates in the May calendar on my blog and it will direct you to all my May 2023 book reviews.

Now to answer – where did I go in May?

For the Agatha’s it was Castle Cove, California. – I am guessing that is a fictional town.

The Last Word – was on the coast of Washington State

Rose Cottage – was Todhall, England. Even though there is a Todhall England, I thought I read somewhere where the author did make it a fictional one for the book. For this one, I also travelled back in time.

The Housemaid – was the Winchester Home. I don’t think I got what state this was located in. It is not the famous haunted Winchester Mansion in California.

The Lost Women of Lost Lake – was Minnesota.

Silence for the Dead – was Portis House – a mental hospital in England. I believe this was fictional. This too involved time travel for me, as a reader.

K is for Killer – Santa Teresa, California

Out of all these locations this month, I have actually travelled to California and Minnesota so it’s easier to imagine those settings. So those are the places I escaped to this month in books. Where did you go with your reading in May?

As of May 30th – My blog visitors for May came from the United States, Finland, United Kingdom, Poland, Canada, Germany, Ireland and Chezia.

So far, my most popular post for 2023 is still – What I Read in January with 107 views. Let’s see if we can break that record. I am doubting that will happen in May but there is hope for June. If you enjoy reading my blog and know other like-minded readers, please suggest your friends check it out, subscribe, and like. I would really appreciate it.

Do you have a book you think I need to read? Let me know in the comments. What are you reading in June?

Until next time – happy reading,

Virginia

Silence for the Dead – Book Review

Imagine you’re a young nurse in an old mansion turned into a mental hospital. It’s the middle of the night. All lights out except your small lamp. It’s June and the room is freezing. You can see your breath and out of the corner of your eye you see someone rush past you to the bottom of the stairwell. You can hear them waiting for you to come down the stairs to them…

By Simone St. James

“Portis House emerged from the fog as we approached, showing itself slowly as a long, low shadow…”

I am a Simone St James fan girl. I love her books. The first of her books I read was Sunset Motel. I then read The Book of Cold Cases. After I finished those, I looked for everything she had published and discovered her older historical books. I have slowly been reading through them, not because they take me a long time to read but because I want to savor them.

If you like a good ghost story, you need to read her books. Each book is about someone trying to solve a mystery that involves a haunting. She is skilled at making it creepy. Her characters are well developed and I did care about what happened to them. Her plot pulls me in.

Summary:

Silence for the Dead is the story of Kitty Weekes. She is pretty, smart, homeless, and a liar. From the beginning we know she is on the run but not exactly why.

Kitty loses her job. She desperately needs a job. She has a roommate who is a nurse and she finds out about an opening for a nurse at a mental hospital in an isolated location. It is the kind of place where if the weather turns bad, you are unable to get there because the bridge from the mainland floods.

Portis House is dark and full of secrets. It is not a happy place for anyone. The patients want help and to be able to see their families. The staff is overworked and no matter what they do, they don’t feel like it is enough. The Matron is harsh and makes life unbearable for everyone with her strict rules.

Kitty gets the job and soon finds out that they are desperate for help. The staff is stretched to the limit. The matron discovers that Kitty may not be who she says she is. She knows Kitty is not a nurse, but Matron doesn’t say anything because Kitty was hired by the owner. Matron does test Kitty by giving her disgusting jobs and pushes her, in a way that feels like torture.

Kitty had thought this would be an easy job. Soldiers from the war, recuperating. How difficult could that be? She quickly learns that the men have varying degrees of madness. Some are almost catatonic while others are violent and are not her friends.

She gets to know them but is afraid to always trust them, and she learns that they all have similar nightmares. Like her own. After she has been there a while and experienced the night shift, in a mental hospital, in total darkness except for a small lamp she carries. Kitty starts seeing things she can’t explain. She wants to help the patients and she knows she needs to find out what exactly is happening to be able to do so.

Kitty, with the help of a handful of patients and staff that she can trust, makes it her duty to find out exactly what is going on. Are the patients insane, is she insane, are there ghosts?

Review:

I gave this book 4 stars. It is definitely a keeper. Another book I stayed up late to finish.

St. James feeds us the information slowly, a little at a time. She hooks you and doesn’t let you go.

I loved the story line. I collect haunted house books, so these are perfect for me.

Each of her stories are stand alone and she is adept at spooky. All of her stories have scared me but I need to know what is going on so I suck it up and keep reading. Her books are not gory. They create a psychological fear.

Nominee for Best Horror 2014.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery with a ghost storyline.

Title: Silence for the Dead

Author: Simone St. James

Year Published: April 1, 2014

Category: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Paranormal

Pages: 374

Rating: Goodreads 3.92

Setting: Portis House – a mental hospital in England in 1919

About the Author:

Award Winning author Simone St James worked in Canadian television for many years before turning to writing full-time. She lives in Toronto with her husband.

I often find it difficult to give a good summary and review without telling too much information. There is a fine line between telling just enough and too much. I hope you enjoyed this review and if you’ve never read this author’s work, you will give it a try.

I hope you’re managing to enjoy a good book now and then. Let me know what you are reading.

Happy Reading,

Virginia

Where Do You Go For Your Book Fix?

Walls of Books

Walls of Books Bookstore Dog

Bookstores are my happy place. I have noticed though that each bookstore has a different feel. Some are warm and friendly, some are more modern with sleek lines and more minimalistic, some are geared toward adults, some more toward children. I have been to a mystery only bookstore and I have been to the Haunted Book Store. I am not sure if those last two are still around but I will do some research and let everyone know. I will try to visit them again.

The first time that I visited Walls of Books, I was looking for Diane Mott Davidson’s Goldie the Caterer series. I found them. I bought all of them. From then on, I was known as the lady who bought all those books. Which reminds me, I need to finish this series.

I discovered this bookstore a couple of years ago. It’s located in Ankeny, IA in a strip mall and it’s part of a franchise so I am sure you can find more in other locations.

It is an interesting place, not just because they have a bookstore dog. (To be honest, I was a little intimidated to see this dog running around the store. I like dogs but I can feel uncomfortable around strange dogs.) This one is gentle and most of the time it lies down near the owner and allows people to pet and talk to him. Lately, I haven’t always seen Isa in the store. Maybe he gets a day off occasionally.

This store is set up with bookshelves all the way around the room with stacks of shelves running in between. In the middle of the room is a leather sofa and chairs for anyone who wants to take a minute to look through a few books before they purchase them. It also has a second room connected with more books.

The main room has children’s books lining the back wall. As you walk into the store, the books start on the furthest wall to the left and weave back and forth through out the room. All the fiction books are in alphabetical order. All the fiction genres are mixed, so if you know the author’s name, you can find what you are looking for easily but there is no separate mystery, romance, horror, or sci-fi, fantasy section. I like to slowly walk through the stacks and find something that calls to me. When you reach the end of the fiction books, there are young adult and classics on last two rows on the furthest right.

In the second room, you will find a couple more chairs and new books, autobiography, biography, historical, non-fiction, and any other genre that doesn’t fit in fiction. I like the fact that this smaller bookstore thinks of the comfort of the customer compared to a local big name box store that pretty much removed any comfortable seating.

In the center of the store in front of the check out counter is a small row of tables with featured books and book related items for sale.

The staff are all pleasant and a mixture of younger and older employees. The fiction section is both used and new books. If you are looking for something special, you can ask someone to order it for you.

You can sell books as well as buy books there. They don’t pay cash, but they do give credit and you can use that credit toward half the purchase of a used book. You keep track of your credit, and you can spend it at any time.

The store has a pleasant atmosphere. There was a man proposing to his future wife there one day. Maybe they met there. Guess I will never know but I did watch with a few other customers and clerks.

Tell me about your favorite bookstore. Where is it located? Why is it your favorite? I hope to add more stores as I visit them. The Des Moines area has several bookstores now so watch for more tours soon.

Coming soon: A book review for Silence for the Dead by Simone St James.

Also, if you are in the area, the Des Moines Public Library has another AVID event tonight at the central library. The author is Jack Carr and it’s at 7:00 PM. I try to get there by 6:00 to make sure I get a copy of the book and a seat. They do sometimes have standing room only. Will post more about this event later.

Happy Reading,

Virginia

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