Why you keep buying books you don’t read – and why it feels so good

Gorgev/Shutterstock.com At busy times, I find I simply cannot read as much as I would like to. Life has a habit of filling every available hour with work, meetings, emails, chores, errands and deadlines. Standing in one of my natural habitats – a bookshop – it is frustrating to see so many things I want to read while knowing I do not have the time. My usual consolation is to buy the book anyway and let a small, satisfying pile build up, looking ahead to the next quieter stretch when I might…