Okay you got me. I definitely was not remembering you can rent for free from public libraries. That is highly under utilized feature in my life (and many people’s) but I have, in the last five years, been using it a lot more for audio books.
$100/year is less than $9/month. You’re not going to get very many rentals with that. Whereas Usenet, you can get as much as you want. $9 a month is also less or the same as a single subscription to a streaming service. I’d gladly pay $9 for one place to have everything I want. I’ve never used usenet, just pointing out why it would be worth to some people to pay for it.
You should get on goodreads and look up books you loved to see what else is recommended from people who also read that book. I find great ones that way!
Otherwise I absolutely could not put “Forth Wing” down by Rebecca Yarros! The second book (five are expected) comes out in a week or two. A friend recommended it and it was so good I fell into a slump afterwards trying to find something as exciting.