The Strange guilt of library books

I read a lot (said kind of guiltily like it’s not a nice thing to admit).

I borrow books from the library – books, e-books, audio books. I read the ones I already have and I also buy books in all formats. In my journey as a reader, I have found something interesting about myself.

I have realized that I have this vague ill-defined guilt when I return a library book unread or partially read. Like I am committing a sin. But I don’t feel this guilt for the books I buy. I might feel bad if a book I bought – I haven’t completed yet, but not this sense of committing a sin.

This phenomenon in myself is very interesting. Why should this be?

You would think that it should actually be the other way around – I should be hesitant in buying books – I am after all spending my hard-earned money on them. And when I don’t I should be feeling very guilty at almost spending so much money and not reading the books.

But the library books are free. And I can always borrow them again! So I shouldn’t feel this guilt at all right?

Why do I feel this way? I am clueless.

Do you readers, feel this way at all? If so, do you understand why?


October 08, 2014