# Do you ever feel guilty when reading a book...



## Zell (Dec 27, 2010)

...because you probably should be doing something else instead?

I hate to say it but _sometimes_ (not always) I get caught up in a good book and should be spending that time with my wife or my kids instead and feel guilty about it while I'm reading or afterward. Or I know I should be working on some kind of project that's really more important to do but I'm reading a book instead.

Anybody else like this?


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## AnelaBelladonna (Apr 8, 2009)

Yes I do.  It will be even worse when Kindle on the Web is available.  Then I will feel guilty about not working.


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## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

I know I should be working on my book and on my short stories for uni, instead I've read about kindle or on my kindle all day today >.<


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

no, since i confine my reading time to commuting and other times of unavoidable delay.


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## Kenneth Rosenberg (Dec 3, 2010)

Sometimes, but I feel even more guilty spending too much time on the Internet when I should be working, like right now!  I'm signing off now, I swear...  Back to work.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Not often as I mainly just do my leisure reading at night before sleeping, so at most I'll stay up a bit too late.

It's goofing online, watching tv and playing video games that I sometimes feel guilty about doing when I should be catching up on work etc.!


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## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

Back in my schooling days I would put off homework for the sake of books. These days, I will put off a well-rested 8 hours for a respectable 7... sometimes a functional 6... to finish a book.

But I can't say I ever felt _guilty_ about it


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## Steven L. Hawk (Jul 10, 2010)

Alain Gomez said:


> Back in my schooling days I would put off homework for the sake of books. These days, I will put off a well-rested 8 hours for a respectable 7... sometimes a functional 6... to finish a book.
> 
> But I can't say I ever felt _guilty_ about it


^^ This. Exactly.


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

Absolutely. I often feel I should be writing, and the guilt gets so bad I have to remind myself that reading is a large part of being a writer. Especially if I'm behind schedule...which I always am


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## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

D. Nathan Hilliard said:


> Absolutely. I often feel I should be writing, and the guilt gets so bad I have to remind myself that reading is a large part of being a writer. Especially if I'm behind schedule...which I always am


this I seem to be doing too recently... Ever since I've been looking at the kindle and got some more ebooks on my laptop. It hasn't happened yet with the kindle but that is more because I've only had it for 3 exhausting days


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

Oh yes.

I blame my parents.

They taught me to read.


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## Zell (Dec 27, 2010)

Chris Northern said:


> Oh yes.
> 
> I blame my parents.
> 
> They taught me to read.


I blame my parents and my formal education. I should have dropped-out of school in the second grade.


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## lib2b (Apr 6, 2010)

Zell said:


> ...because you probably should be doing something else instead?
> 
> I hate to say it but _sometimes_ (not always) I get caught up in a good book and should be spending that time with my wife or my kids instead and feel guilty about it while I'm reading or afterward. Or I know I should be working on some kind of project that's really more important to do but I'm reading a book instead.
> 
> Anybody else like this?


All the time! I'm in my last semester of grad school, so I often feel guilty about reading for pleasure when I should be reading for school work or writing a paper or whatever other thing I should be doing for school. I'm also working full time, so my "free" time is extremely limited to begin with; I feel like I should use all/most of it to work on my homework.


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## tim290280 (Jan 11, 2011)

I'm a chronic procrastinator (or should that be a different verb?) so I often feel guilty about sitting around reading or playing on the internet. I finally mowed the lawn last night, I successfully put it off for 4 weeks.


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## Jen Bluekissed (Jan 22, 2011)

I tell myself that since books don't have calories that I can't feel guilty over reading.  

Seriously though, characters are people too.  They need attention.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Chris Northern said:


> Oh yes.
> 
> I blame my parents.
> 
> They taught me to read.


As a youngun' I figured out pretty early that if I was reading I was often excused from chores.

But my parents pretty soon figured that out and would make me stop reading until the chores were done.

At least once I missed dinner because, when called, I responded "just let me get to a stopping place". Next thing I knew I was told to put the book down and do the dishes (it was my turn). And if I wanted dinner I could get it myself. And do those dishes too.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Zell said:


> ...because you probably should be doing something else instead?
> 
> I hate to say it but _sometimes_ (not always) I get caught up in a good book and should be spending that time with my wife or my kids instead and feel guilty about it while I'm reading or afterward. Or I know I should be working on some kind of project that's really more important to do but I'm reading a book instead.
> 
> Anybody else like this?


No. I never feel guilty about reading. It is an important activity.

Edit: Now posting on forums...


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

Before my Kindle - I read - but not like I do now (my eyes would get tired easily).  So  I spent more time knitting.  Now I have about a half dozen projects on needles and I just don't have the focus to work on  them as much.  That plus having a large yarn stash in my sewing  room sometimes makes me feel guilty.


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

No, never. I usually only get to read for the last few minutes at the end of a day, and it's not like the house knows I didn't clean it.


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## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)

I only feel guilty when I get to that last third of a great book and can't put it down, no matter what. More often I feel guilty when I'm surfing the boards, like right now, and should be reading.


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## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

JRTomlin said:


> No. I never feel guilty about reading. It is an important activity.
> 
> Edit: Now posting on forums...


exactly


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## Patrick Skelton (Jan 7, 2011)

Happens to the best of us!


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

Once in a while I feel guilty about reading when I should be doing something else--like housework--I look around, decide that nothing has actually taken life on its own, and it can wait. Then I get some chocolate and go back to reading. Housework can wait, but there's not enough time to read all the books I want to.


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## MrPLD (Sep 23, 2010)

My wife is always telling me that I feel guilty for too many things - yet, it seems, as though by the crafty hand of fate, every time I _do_ settle down to read a book or similar, _that_ is when something happens and I shouldn't have been "taking time out to relax". :grumble:


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## Christine Kersey (Feb 13, 2011)

I don't have nearly enough time to read, so I actually feel guilty for not reading all the books I've bought! They keep stacking up (electronically that is) and I keep finding more and more great books that I end up buying. I wonder if I'll ever get caught up.


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## leeannebenjamin (Feb 20, 2011)

Never! I feel it is time well spent! Better time spent reading a great book than surfing the web!

_--- edited... no self-promotion outside the Book Bazaar forum. please read our Forum Decorum thread._


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## drenfrow (Jan 27, 2010)

I never feel guilty about reading. I do feel guilty about _not_ reading, when I'm on the computer too much or watching TV.


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## Bob Mayer (Feb 20, 2011)

I don't, because as an author, reading is part of my job.  The same with watching movies and shows.  Everything I read expands my abilities as a writer.


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## AnneKAlbert (Dec 7, 2010)

I only feel guilty when I DON'T read!


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## Annalinde Matichei (Jan 23, 2011)

I too feel guiltier about browsing forums like this. It seems to swallow time when one should be doing something more productive.

I tell myself it is a good way to learn about y'all Earthlings, but I am not too convinced.


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## EliRey (Sep 8, 2010)

Yep you're not alone. I get the worst case of the guilts. Even when I'm reading in the car while my husband drives I have to look up every now and again and make a random comment. He's not even big on talking while he drives, prefers to listen to the radio but still I feel guilty, especially if it's a long trip.


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## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

I feel guilty for reading when my boyfriend thinks I want to go to sleep when I shut down my laptop  When in fact I simply want to read on my kindle without the zooming of the damn thing going on. Woops


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