Oh wow, yes! My grandma did the same thing with the little pat of butter and I rolled my eyes for years. Then one day I ran out of milk and used a splash of half and half instead, plus a pinch of sugar, and it was like a whole different soup. Now I always keep a can of the cheap stuff in the pantry and doctor it up with butter, a little garlic powder, and some cracked pepper. It costs like nothing extra and tastes like I actually tried. Your mom knew what she was doing.

Hostels make money on volume and booze, plus they pack way more people in than a hotel room ever could. Get a few people buying drinks at the bar or paying for the pub crawl and they're set. Seems like you just scored a good one, the cheap ones can be hit or miss.

Did you try reading it at a table or were you holding it like a normal book? I ask because I made the same mistake with a big hardcover last year and almost gave up on it, then someone told me to lay it flat and the reading got way better. That said, the spine crease thing is real and it bugs me too, especially when you paid good money for something that should hold up. Honestly the floppy hunt sounds fun but it takes patience and gas money, and you also get those old ads which can be a blast or super annoying depending on your mood. I still buy collected editions for the stuff I truly love because I want it all in one place on the shelf, but for anything I'm just curious about, dollar bins win every time. You're not stuck on nostalgia, you just learned what your money actually buys, and that's worth knowing.