#susan stokes chapman

[someonelookingpraediti]

Yearly Roundup Best Books of 2022

5. Pandora

This is the perfect mix of Greek retelling and modern storytelling. It's based on the Pandora myth, but she's not the original Pandora, she just happens to share the name... and have a cursed jar. The story was beautifully told, and delicately magical.

4. Skyward

This is my favourite Brandon Sanderson series so far! I much prefer his sci-fi to his fantasy. I can't wait until the series is finished, I'm dying to know how it turns out. This is one of the most well thought out sci-fi series I've ever read, and every character is so complex.

3. Cemetery Boys

This might be one of the most satisfying books I've ever read. It was sweet and emotional and fun. I was so gripped, and wanted so much for Yadriel to get his happy ever after. I recommend this book to everyone, and I can't wait to read more by the author.

2. Folk of the Air

I'm also sort of including the Modern Faerie Tales in here too, which are set in the same world, but if I had to choose, it would be Folk of the Air. I wasn't really expecting much from The Cruel Prince when I picked it up, but I'm so glad I did. Every character Holly Black writes is absolutely magnetic. Her faeries are simultaneously horrific and captivating.

1. All for the Game

This series is... mind blowing. I still can't believe how much this has taken over my life. I had no idea what I was getting into, and I could not have prepared myself for this. Don't get me wrong, it was horrifying and terrible and violent, but it was also hopeful. I'm in love with every character, and I'm even more in love with Exy. I can't wait to reread this several times in 2023!

And a shout-out to some of the other five star books that didn't quite make this list: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Regency Faerie Tales, Firstborn, and The House in the Cerulean Sea

And finally, because I'm a petty bitch, these are the worst books I've read this year: The Atlas Six, Gild, Lore, These Violent Delights, and Violet Made of Thorns.

[alegriavida]

Pandora || Susan Stokes-Chapman

Herein lies the fate of the worlds

[diesestsolispraesentia]

[the-weed-and-read]

The first haul of 2023, getting caught up on some titles

[learnelle]

This morning I stopped by an English bookshop to get my friend her birthday present… and I gave into the unavoidable temptation of buying something for myself too hehe

[freckles-and-books]

Currently reading.

Ignore the drips of coffee on the book. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I didn’t notice until after I took the photo.

[theliteraryadventuresofmsdeer]

"'Death surely has power over everyone,' Hezekiah whispers, desperate."

-Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman

[inabooknook]

Pandora by Susan Stokes Chapman

This was such a surprising book. I didn't expect it to be so richly written and descriptive, and I was absolutely blown away by how wonderfully written it was. The story follows Dora, a young woman at the turn of the 19th century in London, whose parents owned a store that specialized in selling antiques or museum style objects. However, her parents died in an accident involving an archaeological dig to unearth some objects, and now Dora lives with her uncle who runs the store. The book seemed highly researched and interesting, and the history seemed very on point. In conjunction, the book was also highly enjoyable because the characters were realistic and relatable and the story was interesting. I highly recommend this book to anyone who already enjoys historical fiction, but wants something different.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[evilpenguinrika]

I KNEW IT

I KNEW IT

CORNELIUS *DOES* HAVE A SECRET GAY CRUSH ON EDWARD

oh but i feel like he will not "get the guy"/his happy ending. I definitely feel like Dora and Edward will end up together, which I guess makes sense because they're the FMC and MMC

[dontdenymeshakespeare]

The Amazing Readathon Week Two

The Amazing Readathon is a readathon hosted by Brianna from Four Paws and a Book and co-hosted by many others in the BookTube and Bookstagram community. This one is based on the reality TV show The Amazing Race and it’s about spending the month of June travelling the world. There are prompts and ways you can get bonus points (LGBTQ+ author, team genre, etc.), but there are also a whole host of…

[judgingbooksbycovers]

Pandora

By Susan Stokes-Chapman.

Design by Micaela Alcaino.

[someonelookingpraediti]

Currently Reading...

The Winter Spirits - various authors

Two years ago The Haunting Season was the first Waterstones special edition I bought, and the first book I owned with stencilled edges! I was just starting to discover books as collector's items, rather than just for reading, and in the two years since, my collection has grown to an unreasonable size.

So when this follow-up book was announced, of course I was going to order the matching special edition! This one has a lot of the same authors as the first, but it also has some new authors too, including Susan Stokes-Chapman. Honestly, I'd have bought the book just to read her story!

I did try my best, while reading these short stories, not to look at the author until I'd read each story, so my expectations weren't influenced by anything I'd read by the author before.

Host - Kiran Millwood Hargrave In the last book, I called this author's contribution "pleasant but unimaginative". This year's was a laborious read. It cut off too early, with no real resolution.

Inferno - Laura Shepherd-Robinson This author wasn't included in the last book, and I haven't read any of her other work. This was a good story, but incredibly predictable. It was a little heavy-handed, and probably would have done better if the plot had been more drawn out in a longer story.

The Old Play - Andrew Michael Hurley I liked this one - the plot was very obvious, but it was suitably suspenseful, and it ended in the right place. The was a nice surprise, as in the previous book, this author's story was one of my least favourite.

A Double Thread - Imogen Hermes Gower This one was an interesting read, because the characterisation was great, but again, the ending was very predictable, and felt rushed. This was what I was expecting, based on the author's story in the last book.

The Salt Miracles - Natasha Pulley This was one of my favourites - a great, creepy, religious story, which I was anxious to finish. And it ended brilliantly! In the last book, this author's story was also one of my favourites!

Banished - Elizabeth Macneal This was an okay read, it was quite nicely written. But there were no revelations or surprises, it was very obvious. Strangely, last year's story was really gripping!

The Gargoyle - Bridget Collins This one was weirdly nice?! It has an ending which could have suggested something sinister in the future, but is more likely just a nice, happy ending to a misunderstood monster. That's the ending I'm choosing to believe. I liked this one, which is interesting, because I didn't like the last book's story at all!

The Master of the House - Stuart Turton This is another new author. I wasn't expecting this one to make me cry! In fairness, I was already emotional. This one did start to trail off in the middle, but picked back up, and had a strong ending.

Ada Lark - Jess Kidd This was a lovely story! A nice friendly ghost, and a welcome break from the mostly sinister stories. I loved the way this one was written, and the author's contribution to the last book was also one of my favourites.

Jenkin - Catriona Ward Another new author. This was one of my least favourite stories. It was a really childish, fairytale-type concept. The ending was uninspired.

Widow's Walk - Susan Stokes-Chapman Another new author for this year, but an author I've read (and absolutely loved) before. This story was definitely one of my favourites. There were no hidden twists, but it was beautifully written and definitely creepy!

Carol of the Bells and Chains - Laura Purcell This one seemed fairly good while I was reading it, but actually was much less interesting on reflection. I would have expected more, as I loved the author's previous contribution, and have read one of her novels, which was brilliant.

[shallicomparetheetolagrenouille]

2023 in books n. 17

The last book read in June!

And a great disappontment it was!

Though, to be fair, I had a suspicion it would be a superficial read by the synopsis, but I had hopes that it would be a pleasant silly read, that I would be able to enjoy but in which I could not expect to find great research or a groundbreaking character or plot machination or anything of the like. I had complete expectations to find a fun adventure in Georgian London loosely related to archeology and magpies. Something I’d want to reread in the future as a comfort book - but no, this was downright irritating.

The characters are as deep as puddles, at the end of the book I did not care about any of them, because I had not gotten to know any of them

Funnily enpugh, the only ones I had a grain of sympanthy for were the former prostitute and the brothers who retireve the vase - all helpers of the antagonist for most of the book, and characters who are not at all explored, but at least the feelings and opinions they showed, their actions, said something and I could base myself on them to have a picture of them as fully-fledged beings in my head

This did not happen with the main characters, who are just a collection of traumatising moments, clichés and not much else

A “fascinating love story” is mentioned in the description of the book: ignore that part, it’s useless, I felt nothing for or between them the whole time

This could have been set in any century and in any place, because the city and the time period are totally absent from the novel, you do not get a feel for what the characters are wearing, you don’t know what the political situation is, everyone lives in a bubble in which they know 3-4 people max and nothing else happens around them, some things are mentioned that do not at all make sense (buying a second hand dress? a magpie eating breadcrumbs? a shop owner mistreating his employees so badly that they die and get dumped in the Thames?? people carbon-dating Greek vases?? what??)

And all this is nothing compared to the construction of the plot:

The main event is the antagonist retrieving a precious ancient Greek vase from a sunken ship - the whole idea is that Pandora was an actual person and that the story of her vase was linked to actual non-magical events surrounding her - and there are things to note about the vase:

It is completely undamaged by time, excavation or sinking

It depicts Pandora’s tale (why would Pandora’s vase, given to Pandora by Zeus, spoil the whole myth on itself??)

It is carbon-dated at a certain point *sighs* by “The Society” and is found to be “older than time itself” which is the least scientifically sound description I’ve ever heard and also: the technique was not! invented! yet!

Is it actually magical? Its retrieval starts a whole series of misfortunes: the brothers who physically retrieve the vase start getting sick in various ways and the antagonist gets an injury that turns gangrenous

A mysterious old man appears at a certain point to let the male interest know where to find Dora (guess what it is short for) because in her shop he can find an item of interest to study and it is suggested towards the end that he might be Zeus (so Pandora was a real woman and the events about her tale were explicable in real-word terms but also.. ancient gods walking about?)

There are voices of sad women and mysterious flutterings of candles whenever it is moved or opened

The magpie does not like it

And the book tries to make you think that there might actually be something mythical happening in this story, except it is just so ill-constructed that the only effect is annoiance: because if it is a mythical vase containing all the evils of the world plus hope, what is the purpose of finding it now? The only consequences it has is gangrene for a sad, envious, lecherous uncle and a random girl marrying a random guy and finding the good artifacts excavated by her dead parents as an unexpected inheritance

A great vase from myth reappears! To be let as party decoration and be gawked at in an antiquity shop

The most irritating thing about it all, though, is in the acknowledgments, in which the author candidly says that she knows nothing about the historical period she chose or archeology or jewel-making or even magpies, clearly, she just had an idea about a girl wanting to become a jewel designer and fit all the other elements around it after a suggestion from her editor - and also tweaked historical events around her plot to make it more plausible (which backfired horribly because those things stuck out like a sore thumb).

This is just a mediocre read and the only thing I’ll regret when I inevitably donate it will be the pretty cover.

[pankeeki9]

[carica-ficus]

Recenzija: Pandora

Originalan naslov: Pandora

Autor: Susan Stokes-Chapman

Datum: 20/10/2022

Ocjena: ⭐⭐⭐

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Izbjegavam kupnju knjiga koje još nisam pročitala kako ne bih potrošila novac na nešto što mi se zapravo ne sviđa, a otkako se "Pandora" pojavila na policama knjižara, znala sam da ću je morati obavezno posuditi u knjižnici jer definitivno ne bih htjela propustiti priliku da posjedujem knjigu ovako lijepih korica.

No dogodilo se ono čega sam se pribojavala, a to je da mi se radnja nije svidjela koliko sam ja to priželjkivala. Prvo i osnovno, očekivala sam puno više. Ljubitelj sam povijesnih drama, pogotovo onih postavljenih u Engleskoj, no problem kod ovog žanra je njegova popularnost, stoga je većina ideja već prenjeta u pisanom ili nekom drugom obliku. Potrebno je nešto posebno kako bi takvo djelo zbilja postalo upečatljivo u današnjem vremenu. "Pandora" to, po mojem mišljenju, nije.

Likovi naoko djeluju razrađeno, no njihova karakterizacija u svojoj je šuštini veoma površna. Glavni likovi zagovaraju određene stereotipove te ne nudi ništa dublje: djevojka visokih ambicija koja provodi čitav život slušajući što joj drugi nalažu zbog ograničenja patrijarhata, prekrasan mladić koji se zaljubi u nju na prvi pogled, token gay character koji je neugodan od ljubomore i negativac koji je zao primarno zbog razloga što ga je odbila žena u koju se zaljubio.

Osim glavnih likova koji vode radnju, svi sporedni likovi veoma su zaboravljivi i nezanimljivi. Također ispunjavaju karakterne kalupe davno postavljene u književnom svijetu te njihova nazočnost samo djeluje veoma forsirano. Naravno da likovi služe da vode radnju, no čini se kao da je Stokes-Chapman bila suočena sa toliko problema u svojoj priči, odnosno plothole-a, koje je zatim pokušavala nezgrapno skrpati ubacujući likove u priču. Štoviše, jedan od glavnih pokretača radnje je starac čija je cijela pojava misterij te se ponovno spomene tek pri kraju, no nikada i ne otkrije njegov pravi identitet.

Ideja iza same knjige je fenomenalna te nešto što još nisam prije iskusila, no autorica ju samo pretvara u generičan YA fiction novel koji se ničime ne ističe od tisuće drugih.

Dok sam ponudila brojne negativne kritike za ovu knjigu, želim naglasiti kako ona zapravo nije loša. Dapače, bilo je dijelova kada sam jedva čekala saznati što se dogodi slijedeće i kada je autorica savršeno dovela do osjećaja šoka. Razvoj događaja je zanimljiv i napet, a kraj knjige definitvno nudi zadovoljavajući završetak.

Moj največi problem je što sam ovakav tip knjige već odavno prerasla. Da sam je pročitala u srednjoj školi, vjerojatno bih njome bila opsjednuta, no moj ukus se mijenja sa mojim godinama i jasno mi je zašto me više ovakve knjige ne privlače koliko su nekad. Ali ako volite upravo ovaj žanr, ako ste fan Grčke povijesti i povijesnih engleskih drama, ova knjiga bi vam se definitivno mogla svidjeti.

[sillypenguinwitch]

isaac's books in heartstopper s2

episode 1:

Tillie Walden: I Love This Part

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé: Ace of Spades

episode 2:

Nina LaCour: We Are Okay

Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest

episode 3:

Ocean Vuong: Night Sky with Exit Wounds (the one he is carrying under his arm, I'm assuming that's his and not for the display?)

has read: Ritch C. Savin-Williams: Bi: Bisexual, Pansexual, Fluid, and Nonbinary Youth

Emily Henry: Book Lovers

episode 4:

Victor Hugo: Les Misérables

Antoine De Saint-Exupéry: The Little Prince

Kate Chopin: The Awakening

Nina LaCour: We Are Okay (again)

episode 5:

Albert Camus: The Outsider

episode 6:

Martin Handford: Where's Wally? The Great Picture Hunt

Meredith Russo: Birthday

Jules Verne: Around the World in Eighty Days

Sara Pennypacker: Pax Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan, Caroline de Maigret, Sophie Mas: How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are ? ? ? Damian Dibben: The Color Storm Alice Oseman: Loveless Susan Stokes-Chapman: Pandora Katy Hessel: The Story of Art Without Men ? Evelyn Waugh: Rossetti Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles A.O. Scott: Better Living Through Criticism ?: Then We Came to an End (?) Ruth Millington: Muse Dr. Jaqui Lewis: Fierce Love Charlotte Van Den Broek: Bold Ventures - Thirteen Tales of Architectural Tragedy ?

Richard Siken: Crush

episode 7:

Garrard Conley: Boy Erased

George Matthew Johnson: All Boys Aren't Blue

Samra Habib: We Have Always Been Here

episode 8:

Akemi Dawn Bowman: Summer Bird Blue

Angela Chen: Ace

bonus:

Truham school library pride display (seen in ep. 3 and 8):

top to bottom, left to right: Angela Chen: Ace Andrew Holleran: The Kingdom of Sand Mary Jean Chan and Andrew McMillan: 100 Queer Poems Scott Stuart: My Shadow Is Pink Lotte Jeffs: My Magic Family Tucker Shaw: When You Call My Name Ritch C. Savin-Williams: Bi - Pansexual, Fluid, Nonbinary and Fluid Youth Alok Vaid-Menon: Beyond the Gender Binary George M. Johnson: All Boys Aren’t Blue Mason Deaver: I Wish You All the Best Alex Gino: George Melissa

on top of shelves (left to right): Kevin Van Whye: Nate Plus One Xixi Tian: This Place is Still Beautiful Becky Albertalli: Leah on the Offbeat Mya-Rose Craig: Birdgirl Bernardine Evaristo: Girl, Woman, Other Connie Glynn: Princess Ever After Saundra Mitchell: The Prom

Charlie's choice at Shakespeare and Co (ep. 6): Allan Hollinghurst: The Swimming Pool Library

That's it for now.

Sorry about the ones i couldn't identify and sorry if i missed any! Might try and do some of the ones in Isaac's room later but that'll take a minute