I’m not sure how helpful this will be, but generally speaking, I tend to only buy books that I’ve already read and enjoyed enough to want a copy of my own, with exceptions being sequels and authors I know I like. (I also usually buy used, when I do.) Depending where you are, you probably have a few (legal) ways to do it this way, too.

If you want to read something specific:

• Libraries. If you’re interested in a new release or very popular work, you might have to wait a while for your turn, but otherwise, it should be relatively easy to get a lot of things, either in person, through library apps, or through interlibrary loans.
• Kindle Unlimited. I don’t personally have experience with this one, as I’m not a big Amazon fan, but seems like a good way to stretch your book allowance/limit regret at picking a dud.

If you just want to try a variety of things, risk-free, to see what you might like:

• Little free libraries. Heavily dependent on whatever others donate, but if you’re lucky enough to have one near you, you might find something worth trying.
• Public domain. Obviously, limited to very old stuff, but maybe you’ll find something interesting.
• Assuming you’re reading fiction, some publishers, fiction magazines, and authors offer free things (full e-books, excerpts, short fiction, etc) on their sites. Short stories can be a great way to get a feel for many authors quickly.

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As to your other question: I find paperbacks way more comfortable to hold one-handed; no need to choose between eating and reading! They’re also usually smaller and lighter than hardcovers, so you can 1) fit more in less space, and 2) carry more at once when you move or rearrange.

Finished To Catch a Thief by David Dodge. Enjoyable suspense mystery, but definitely of its time (casual Roma racist stereotypes, side couple with an age gap we might side-eye today). Definitely a more methodical, serious story than the movie, which I watched after.

Bingo squares: Older than You (1952), What’s Yours Is Mine, Eazy Breazy Read-zie, Now a Major Motion Picture, (alt) A Change in Perspective

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I tried reading The Gathering by C.J. Tudor, a horror police procedural in a world where vampires publicly exist, because I like horror and police procedurals, but… all I did was remind myself that vampires just really aren’t my thing most of the time. The writing was compelling, so I might go back to it at some point, or try something else by that author.

Started The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson.

Did a quick search, looks like ExeKiller, which isn’t out yet. Hope you find something good to play in the meantime!

Nightride.FM has datawave (sort of 80s/early 90s computer-aesthetic synthwave) and horrorwave (darkwave subgenre, very 80s horror movie inspired) stations.

And Saryn Prime.

Finished Relic by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child last night. One of the authors worked in the real-life counterpart of the book’s museum setting for a few years, and it shows: there was lots of interesting detail about the parts the public doesn’t get to see. In general, I thought this was a fun enough popcorn read, although the first 60% seemed a little slow for something billed as a mystery horror thriller. Not sure I want to read any of the sequels, but I’ll probably check out the movie to see how good an adaptation it is.

Bingo squares: It Takes Two; Disability Representation; Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie; Now a Major Motion Picture; Mashup (debatable); Institutional HM; (alt) A Change in Perspective

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I’m planning to start To Catch a Thief by David Dodge next.

I’m a serial lurker, but I’ve been wanting to say thank you for putting this community together, and doing all the hard work to keep it going! I appreciate the wide variety of trailers you pick out; it’s a nice mix of mainstream stuff and more niche things I wouldn’t otherwise know existed.

My favorite tank! I never use her 1 or 4, though, and should probably subsume something over one of them. Aegis Storm is ok as a panic CC when playing in a group, but not being able to use my loadout at the same time is so off-putting. As for Balefire, I’ve never found it to be better than my regular weapons, and I don’t find it fun to use.

I don’t really min/max profit too much when I play, so I might not be the best person to ask, but I’ll try to give you some things to consider!

For year 1 (not year 2) Spring, I’ve seen a lot of people suggest either parsnips or potatoes. Parsnips get you farming XP faster–plus you get gold star turnips for the community center–but potatoes are higher profit per plant, so you won’t have as many energy issues trying to water everything. Also, you might want to save up some money for the Egg Festival…

Btw, fishing can be a good source of fast cash, if you don’t mind the fishing mechanic.

Don’t worry, time doesn’t affect the Joja/community center thing. You’re good to do it at your own pace.

Glad to help! Hope you enjoy it.

If you’re having fun, you’re doing what you should be. If you’re getting bored, however, and you’re past Spring 5, there’s a couple of things you might have missed:

• You should have a quest or two in your log to give you a goal or two. Not sure what the button to open the quest log is on switch, but there should be one.
• Some days, the Help Wanted board outside Pierre’s will have a villager request you can do. You won’t be able to do all the requests at this point, and they do have a 2 day time limit, but the money and friendship are nice early on.
• Have you been checking your mail? You should have gotten a letter asking you to come by a place. ::: spoiler Willy’s fish shop :::
• Also in the mail: you should have gotten a notice that a new area has opened up. ::: spoiler the mine :::
• Enter town from the bus stop between 8am and 1pm on a non-rainy day for an important cutscene. If you’ve already seen it, but don’t know how to progress, make sure to look around inside, especially at shiny things. ::: spoiler the community center :::

I really enjoyed Caveat, despite the utterly ridiculous setup, so I’m down to give this a shot.

Coincidentally, I just saw a new releases list from February that had the sequel on it: it’s called Red Side Story.

Not a weapon, but a type: I love blade and whips. They’re cool-looking, and the stance feels good.

Currently about 60 pages into Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It’s alright so far, but I’m not super invested.

I also read Strange Dogs by James SA Corey, which I’d been putting off. Unlike some of the other Expanse novellas, the show followed this one pretty closely (from my memory of it, anyway). Luckily, it was short, and I can move on to Auberon without feeling guilty I’d skipped something.

I’ll second all of these, especially the lack of scrollbar and “expand text post in feed” button, and the hidden like/dislike buttons. The like/dislike vs upvote/downvote thing is tricky; I don’t have a good solution for it, but maybe different icons that don’t read as up/down would work.

Also, from a quick poke at things:

• There doesn’t seem to be a way to switch the “For You” feed away from card view. I think it’s fine if you want to make it a separate view setting from the main page, but I’d like to be able to change it to my view of choice.
• I’d like to see the post/comment body text tweaked for better readability: higher contrast against the background, a touch more space between lines, and a lighter weight (regular or medium) would all make reading long posts more pleasant, imo.
• In compact view, if I expand the attached image, there doesn’t seem to be a way to shrink it back down, as clicking again opens the post.
• When viewing a post, there’s a community sidebar on the right with all the rules and such, but that info is missing from the actual community detail page.
• The community sidebar on the post page scrolls separately from the rest of the post, which is weird to me on desktop. Giving it an “expand” button might be a good compromise, so you don’t have the weird case of short post/long sidebar unless the user explicitly asks for it.
• Navigating front page > post page > community detail page, and then hitting back on the browser twice returns me to what the nav bar tells me is the front page, but only that one community’s posts are shown. Refreshing or clicking “front page” fixes this, but it’s a little confusing the first time.
• Navigating front page > community detail page doesn’t trigger a… page load, I guess? My browser (firefox) doesn’t recognize the community detail page as a separate page, so I can’t hit back to go back to the main feed. Instead, I have to either refresh or click “front page”.

Overall, though, this is super impressive!

@Dresden I haven’t decided where I’m putting any of the books I’ve read for bingo yet, either.

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Finished Crazy Rich Asians over the weekend. I was expecting an Asian drama in book form, and that’s pretty much exactly what it is, complete with a number of common tropes. The characters have a bit more depth than your standard drama fluff, however, and the amount of discussion on Singaporean high society and culture elevates it further. On the negative side (for me), the narration–like many of the characters–gets very caught up in luxury brands, which I found kind of dry and unnecessary; I guess it might enhance the experience if you’re familiar with the names, but most of them went over my head. Additionally, the first third introduces a confusing number of characters. Thankfully, it gets easier later on, but at first, it’s hard to tell who’s important enough to keep track of (especially given the extensive family tree provided at the start).

Overall, this was a quick, fun read, and I liked it enough to add the next book in the series to my TBR.

(Bingo squares: Family Drama hard mode; Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie; maybe Stranger in a Strange Land hard mode; Debut Work; (alt) A Change in Perspective.)

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Still trying to decide what to read next.

I’m gonna post thoughts on Crazy Rich Asians in the new thread, but I enjoyed it well enough.

Re: The Butcher of the Forest: I wouldn’t say the author’s sadistic with their characters, no. From my (potentially desensitized) perspective, I’d say the horror is actually pretty mild, to be honest. The MC goes through a reasonable amount of trauma as she deals with the eldritch creatures (fae?) she encounters; my content warning… er… warning was mainly to do with a part of her past that she briefly recounts toward the end. It’s only about 100 pages, so not a big investment if you try it and find it not to your taste.

I was computerless for the better part of a week, so had lots of time to read! Currently 75% of the way through Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.

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Finished The Last Gifts of the Universe by Rory August. Enjoyed this more than I’d expected: the first half led me to believe it was going to be breezy fluff the whole way through, but it actually turns fairly poignant in the second half, exploring the losses experienced by different characters. It’s a little hamfisted in places (evil corporation is evil!), and a little YA in tone, but still very worth a read, imo. (Counts for Among the Stars HM, Minority Author, LGBTQIA+ Lead, Family Drama, Debut Work.)

Read The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed, which scratched an itch I had for dark fantasy. Really enjoyed it; reminded me a little of both Annihilation and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. My only real gripe is the last couple of pages feeling almost like sequel-bait, rather than letting the ending settle. This does have some horror elements, so do please check content warnings if it sounds good. (Counts for New Release, Minority Author, Mashup, It’s About Time, (alt) A Change in Perspective.)

It ended up being Miyazaki’s son’s first movie, and is a mashup of the entire series and some other stuff. Famous for this tidbit (quoted from Wiki):

During a private screening prior to the film’s release, Gorō’s father, Hayao, was asked what he thought of the film. He said, “I was looking at my kid. He’s not an adult yet. That is all.”

Le Guin was also not a fan, so…