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Surprised to see there was no discussion of this here! I unsubbed from both a while ago, but it being due to layoffs in the podcast world seems like a rare topic

just wanted to share this one and shout out the author for writing this short beautiful tale.

I nominate Phoebe Judge. Her voice and cadence is just soothing.

Anyone know that feel?

Subscribed to over 200 podcasts, picking and choosing episodes to listen to. Slowly going through them and deleting a few, starting with ones that are more visual based (like photography podcasts for example) or haven’t been updated in a year. Down to 95ish so far. I’d like to get it down to under 10.

As great as this sub is, it feeds into the addiction. lol.

Just curious. My content is kind of stagnate as of late. Lookin to spice it up!

Specifically - but not limited to - patients frauding medical practices, instances of Munchausen’s (all varieties), fictitious disorder, malingering, etc. I’m a little less interested in the medical professionals being the fraudsters bc that just makes me super bummed out for all their victims.

I’ve listened to the episodes from Swindled and Something Was Wrong that included the topic, and I know quite a bit about Gypsy Rose as well, but I’m just looking for more content if it’s out there! TIA

Have you ever read two books that are very similar to one another, and yet one of them just pulls it all off so much better than the other? Please share!

My sister is in jail and losing hope. She asked me to send books, but I can’t think of anything for her current circumstance.

I would like: * Something light, as she hasn’t slept and can’t focus * Something positive, as she is losing hope in her case and our mother just passed (³⁄₁₄) * Something mildly spiritual or religious, as she has found comfort in Bible study (We were raised entirely NOT religious at all, but I’m trying to support her).

My brother sent her some self-help books that she says she can’t get into. I’ve sent her Unlikely Animals, but I’m not sure she’ll like it. (She didn’t sound thrilled. ) I’ve followed up with some Bill Bryson, David Sedaris, Allie Brosh, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, all of which she has yet to receive. She can receive 4 books per week, and she can keep as many as will fit in her cubby or can donate to their shared library.

Any ideas? She just wants …

Looking for magical realism suggestions. Along the lines of Murakami but less um pervy. Or Neil Gaiman but less YA. 100 Years of Solitude was excellent.

Novels that take place in the future / sci-fi, but grounded in reality are welcome too — like Never Let Me Go, Metro 2033, or MaddAddam trilogy. I also recently enjoyed the Mountain in the Sea except it had one of the worst endings ever.

TIA!

My 11 year old is currently reading the second book. I’ve never seen him to completely enthralled by a book. This evening he even choose reading over screen time. First time that’s ever happened!

Anyway he’ll suffer the usual withdrawals when he finishes the final book so I’m wondering can anybody recommend something similar? He’s 11 but he’s a pretty advanced reader.

Thanks so much!

Edit: wow! So many incredible recommendations. Thanks so much to everybody. I can’t reply to all the posts but really appreciate the suggestions. He and I are gonna Google them and see which he’s most drawn to.

I’ve been watching through The Last of Us and was absolutely blown away by that episode, and it’s got me wanting more stories like it. I’ve never really seen a post-apocalyptic story like it before where it’s just a small isolated tale instead of a big overarching thing with 50 main characters like you see with things like The Stand or The Walking Dead. Is there anything like if out there? I’d think it’d make an amazing short story anthology.

Hi y’all. It’s been an emotionally tough time for me recently and I was hoping for some suggestions for books that feel cozy and safe. Nothing overly challenging or heavy. I tend to hover in fantasy/fantasy-romance genre-wise, but am open to anything with the right vibe. And there doesn’t need to be a plot, I don’t mind a meandering novel.

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Some favourites:

- Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

- The House In the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

- Anything by Rick Riordan

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Thanks in adavnce y’all

I’m trying to find a game that has a balance of cozy village life but also dangerous questing life!

Games that I enjoyed that fit the category:

Elder Scrolls

Witcher 3 (though you don’t really have a home until B&W)

Stardew Valley (if you count the mines as questing)

What I don’t want is games that are just endless fighting, e.g. Diablo or Dark Souls.

Hello everyone.

As the title says, I am looking for a game that can run on low end machines and can give thousands of hours of content.

For context my pc specs are:

-Ryzen 3 3200g

-16gb ram

-Integrated graphics card

I’m looking for vibes more than genre or anything, and those vibes are that the setting feels incredibly, unbelievably old. I’m talking like Jack Vance’s Dying Earth novels old, or like, a game set on the last ringworld in Stellaris after 10,000 galactic cycles have come and gone, and nobody even remembers the Prethoryn or the Contingency because the galaxy has been attacked and scoured and restored and fallen countless times since.

Something where the apocalypse came and went and has been forgotten and repeated, the archaeological layers telling of a dozen such events.

Something where there are barely any stars in the sky because almost all of them have gone out.

As examples, Horizon Zero Dawn’s world is still too young and fresh. Kenshi, Caves of Qud, Shadow of the Colossus, these are decent examples of the vibes I want but I am after things that truly push it to the limit.

PC best, Switch and PS4 also good. Thank you!

Edit; The Nier and Soulsborne games …

Primarily on PS5 but have a weak PC I can play on.

As an ‘older’ gamer, I find I rarely have time for extended gaming sessions.

TL;DR Some of the attributes I’m looking for:

• Can be played in 20-30 minute sessions with a clear point to ‘save and step away’
• Sessions are cumulative (i.e. not roguelikes where the run ends with a ‘reset’ of your character or session progress) - and getting better or more powered up isn’t just ‘you can do what you could do before, but faster now’
• Slow paced - not action oriented, or at least doesn’t demand twitch reflexes
• You can step away for days or weeks, and not have to spend a lot of time remembering where you were when you return
• No long loading times after the game has ‘started’ (i.e. multiplayer matching queue doesn’t take forever, or a run starts with >5 min of ‘travel’ or whatever else to actually get into it)
• Sci-Fi, Modern, or Alternative …

I have wanted to try out a game like this for a while. Give me a world map but don’t tell me where I am, let me figure it out with landmarks or coastlines or whatever.

Basically what I have in mind is a game where you have a home area with base building and characters to interact with but then you travel outside of that hub into procedurally generated locations to fight enemies and scavenge for materials to bring back to fuel your base building and other gameplay elements at your home location. Kind of like Reccetear or Rune Factory 4 in the combination of home base and adventuring combo.