I know there are always a ton of posts about e-readers, and I may be totally overthinking this but... I have almost exclusively purchased refurbished/second hand tech for a few years now. My phone is ancient, my laptop and headphones are all refurbished tech etc. So I really want an e-reader and am considering the Kobo. But does anyone know how frequently the refurbished options become available?? I've been waiting for a while but nothing is coming up, and I feel hesitant about ebay sellers because all I've seen so far are sellers who clearly regularly sell brand new in box tech, which doesn't feel second hand to me... it feels like buying new from an extra middleman.

So I got some money from watching my dad's dog recently and I don't know if I should be trying so hard to avoid just buying the Kobo, or like, how much longer should I wait for their refurbished options to show up?? (I wanted one for my birthday so we've had notifications on for over a month now) Maybe I am just being impatient but my other problem too is if I am being too picky about ebay sellers or not LOL am I being overly ridiculous on that or idk. I just don't know if saving $20 is worth it if it's supposedly brand new in box or if I should just buy it new. Or if I am being too morally rigid on being hesitant to buy new. Someone help!!!

Being French, I've obviously always heard a lot about this book and have a base knowledge of how it and its famous quotes fit into philosophical and literary discussions, as well as of people's general feelings about it and Meursault independently of said discussions. Which is why I have to say I'm a bit surprised at what I'm actually reading, and I fear this might be a bit of an upsetting read..... I've always heard about how strange and off-putting Meursault's cold and uncaring behaviour during his mother's funeral is, and how he's just a sort of misanthropic asshole... but that's just not what the actual text says at all???? I very much feel like a lot of readers are ascribing ill-intent and projecting their own negative feelings associated with the thought-processes, observations, and behaviour he's describing, when that information is just not present in the text. At least in this chapter, he is only ever observing and stating material details without ascribing them a value judgment, and the only part that comes even close to negative feedback is him wondering if these people actually cared about his mother... an assumption for which he immediately apologises.

He also doesn't feel at all uncaring about his mother's death like I just don't know where people are possibly getting this from. He's uncomfortable, lost, unsure how to properly react to the event and to the new people he finds himself interacting with. Sorry but have you ever been to a funeral? It's weird. It's an event and a performance and an organisational task and completely for the benefit of the living and it'll start and be over at set times and you have to juggle how to appropriately perform at each stage to satisfy people that might not even be in your actual life, and also hope the right feelings will manifest in you from the aether at the right time bc it's not like you can turn them on yourself.

Also what do you mean he doesn't care about people he's literally constantly attempting to explain himself to them so they don't get the wrong idea, and he's always trying to pay attention to what people say to him and to valiantly keep up the script and the conversation, even when he realises he's forgotten an information they'd already given him. He literally reassures and prompts the caretaker to go on when his wife tells him he shouldn't say these things to Meursault, bc he's genuinely interested in what he has to say.

anyway. I unfortunately suspect that trying to explain a behaviour to people to whom it feels fundamentally Other never really works no matter how much you think you can perfectly clear up any misunderstanding if you can find the right words 🥲

hi everyone! i am looking for new internet friends with whom i can yap about the books i'm reading - i would really like to start a small discord server with some like-minded individuals, maybe start a book club, etc.

i personally read a lot of romantasy, romance, high fantasy, sci-fi, literary fiction, historical fiction, and the occasional thriller/crime novel. i have also been known to love a memoir!

is this something any of you boundlings might be interested in? i want to make some book besties!

This post is sort of.. twofold!! Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I haven't seen this pop up recently so I hope it's fine.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever picked up a book from a used book store and then been unable to find the next book in the series, or even another copy of the same book? Or, unable to find the other books by the author? If so, what book was it, what's your story about that?!

The next question is... how do you find obscure books? Thriftbooks was a bust... ebay has suuuper expensive shipping... do i just hope and send good vibes and manifest the book appearing?

So let me explain my story. I love used book stores and when we go camping/on roadtrips my family likes to stop at any we find on the way. Well I found my favourite... a mass market paperback fantasy from the 80s. It was called Songs from the Seashell Archives (banger title) and it was the first volume (if you follow me you might've seen me update a review) hehe. I love it. It's not the greatest book of all time but it was the perfect book to read in the summer. Well I wanted volume 2 and i'm like well i'm not gonna find this book anywhere, not the volumes (they combined books 1-2, etc). I ordered it on thriftbooks... just to get a 🤷🏻‍♀️ heres your money back bc we don't have that book On ebay its being sold for like... $8 which is fine except the shipping is +$20!!! I'm kind of getting obsessed now so I checked thriftbooks again and it's listed. So friends.... should I try to order on thriftbooks again? Should i let it be and search for this book in used book stores for the rest of my life?

Firstly,greetings fellow boundlings! I hope you guys are doing great and that I hope May was kind to you guys and that you achieved the goals you had for the month. As for me, I've achieved some of it as I managed to finish my Austen marathon and started on my mystery run with some good old Agatha Christie.

Secondly,Happy Pride Month to all the queer Boundlings on here🌈! Know that you are loved and seen by many of us here! I hope you guys have a wonderful month and get the chance to live as your authentic selves!

Thirdly, what are everyone's plans for the month? As for me, book wise want to do one more Poirot story then read another book because there are a lot of Poirot books to get through and I think that's what I'll be doing for the rest of the month. Life wise, I'm winding up my application for my degree so that I can go abroad✈️📚!

Overall,I hope everyone has a lovely month ahead and that everyone achieves their goals and fulfills their plans for the month!

Lots of love, Nicotherelative ❤️.

hellooo, as per the aforementioned title, do you guys have any book recs for somebody who likes to read agatha christie books and dan brown books? i know they’ve said they like more mystery novels and that’s not my genre of expertise which is i am turning to my fellow boundlings to help me out. y’all have Neverrrrr disappointed me so i truly appreciate all your recs ! i would love to gift them a good book and even introduce to them a new author since they said they’re a casual reader and i don’t know if they are into collecting books.

all i know for sure is they don’t enjoy romance and fantasy as much they would most definitely give the book a shot if i gift it to them but i wouldn’t want to give them something they’ve already expressed they don’t like. any ideas? :((

edit : they also really enjoyed the movie your name and casually watch ghibli movies. idk if they would like the books as much tbh.

Hello PBees!

This past 2026 Spring Readalong, I acquired my first sparkly badge 🙌 I was very surprised to realize that the book I was dreading to read and making me wonder whether I should aim for sparkles or not, was actually my favorite book of the Readalong! It made me appreciate even more how the Readalongs can get you out of your comfort zone in a good way!

So today I want to ask you: What do you think your top for the 2026 Summer would be?

Mine is:

1. 🦁 The Lion Women of Teheran
2. 🐇 The Empress of Salt and Fortune
3. 🌊 A River Enchanted
4. ☀️ The Stranger

You can participate even if you don't plan on aiming for the sparkles! In fact, don't push yourself too much for it, the goal is to enjoy reading first of all! You can also participate if you've already acquired your sparkly badge (you drop that 👑), and mention what you thought it would be vs what it actually was!

If you are into it, I will also offer a debrief at the end of the Readalong to see how you thought it would go vs how it actually went!

PS: Doesn't Sparkle Chaser sound like a My Little Pony name? I couldn't confirm whether it was one 🤔