Wednesday, May 25, 2016

1: A.M. Post: Do You Feel Library Guilt? Reading My Books vs. Library Books

I'm home for the summer, which means I am six minutes away from my local library again and I have more time to read. This is great and also stressful. Let me explain; I love my library and I especially love to get graphic novels from my library as they are so expensive to own, but I also own a stack of unread books that is at least twice as tall as I am. Therefore, when I go to the library and check out a book or get an ebook from my library's catalog and read it, I am not reading one of the books belonging to the aforementioned stack.

Because of this, I can feel guilty and stressed while reading books from the library, particularly if I take a while to read them, because that means I'm not reducing my TBR pile of books that I paid for. Now, I buy a lot of my books used or discounted, but I still spent money on them and they still take up physical space in my room and are a physical reminder that I'm not reading them every time I look at them (which is quite often.)

I love my library and really like to take advantage of being so close to it while I'm staying at my parents house, but I also really want to reduce the number of unread books I own. I think part of the problem is that as a college student, summer is the only time I can really read material of my own choosing, so I try to cram in as much reading as I can which also causes stress and probably causes me to read less.

Basically, my overthinking brain is making something fun and recreational into a chore and a stressful event, which is not what I want. This summer, I'm going to just read freely from my own shelves and my libraries shelves. A good book is a blessing no matter where it came from, and I love supporting my local library.
Me reading everything and not caring where it came from

Do you guys feel this way about borrowing from the library? Do you ever feel guilty about not reading books you already own? Help me out here and tell me I'm not alone.

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