Some of my recent stuff:
Finished Eldest not long ago (spoilers further down in this paragraph), as many of you in the chat heard me whining about. It is definitely an improvement over the original Eragon, at least in the realms of world-building, and characterizing the side characters and giving them things to do outside of defining Eragon himself. Nasuada is by far my favorite character in the series so far, the way she lost her father and got thrust into a position of power by the Varden's council, thinking they could control her, and then she just, "No, pardon me while I Competent Ruler all over this place," and turns herself into such an incredibly powerful figure. Roran is my second favorite, possibly just because he got so much page time away from Eragon.
Eragon himself is still an insufferable, thoughtless twit who talks too much and takes too much for granted. I don't know why he's the protagonist instead of Nasuada. I also didn't like how some of the Carvahall villagers, like Sloan and . . . the one lady . . . seemed more intent on spiting/revenge against Roran in the midst of a siege. It's like, priorities, people? I did like the long-time set up with Arya throughout the first book, where she was the only elf we had met, leading the reader to believe all her people were as solemn and austere as she is. Then, we finally meet other elves, and they're instantly singing and dancing, all they're all just happy all the time. That was actually a well-done fake-out on Paolini's part.
I also just finished The Adventures of Pinocchio (also spoilers below), don't judge me, I need to read and my need is deep. It was actually bizarrely dark? Like, I'm not sure I would recommend it for actual children? Which feels weird. There's just a lot of violence in it, and Pinocchio kills the Talking Cricket with a hammer, and gets hanged at one point, and it's just . . . dang. This was a kids book in early 1800s Italy? Dang.
It's also very, very inconsistent about Pinocchio himself. Like, he is made of wood, and displays borderline superstrength at some points due to the density of his skin, but he also gets hungry all the time. So, is he wood, or does he have organs in there? He also sometimes needs to breathe and sometimes doesn't, as he nearly gets hanged early on, but later spends about an hour under water with no trouble.
I may be overthinking a piece of outdated children's literature. Sorry.
—doctorlit is a glutton and reads just about anything he can get his hands on, other than straight romance