I did a thing this week that I’ve never done before. I knowingly kept a library book past its due date. 😬
The book in question is one I was tasked with reading for my SciFi/Fantasy book club. It clocked in at 618 pages. And I had already renewed it twice without issue (as I hadn’t started it yet since I was trying to finish other books for other book clubs). I had intended to renew it again – but this time, someone had placed a hold. A hold that didn’t exist when I had been in my account just one day prior. I checked all my other library sources – and every copy/version of it elsewhere had a long list of holds. And since my library allows a book to be checked out for three weeks, there was no way that I’d be able to return it, get it back, and finish it in time.
So I kept it. And I’ve felt incredibly guilty ever since.
‘Ever since’ meaning the whole day and a half I held it after it was due (not to mention some pre-guilt in the days leading up to the due date knowing I would have to hold on to it). This is how my mind works – thinking of that poor reader believing they were about to receive the book they were excited to read only to see it hadn’t been returned on time. Which has happened to me a couple times when I was waiting for a book club book, and they kept it so long that I couldn’t get it in time to read it.
Which is why I spent every waking free moment since I saw I couldn’t renew it again reading, trying to finish it as fast as possible. Which is why I spent the entire day yesterday reading to finish it. My poor eyeballs, y’all.
So now I’m off to return the book, pay my fifty cents in late fees, and send my apology into the ether to the reader who is waiting for it.
Ami Maxine 