Reading: Pressure from Pleasure

I just finished reading the book Pillars of the Earth, which I have been wanting to read for a long time.  I had trouble enjoying it though, not because I didn't like, because I really did.  No, I struggled to enjoy it because it is more than twice the length of an average book, so the whole time I was reading it I was distracted by the other books that I wouldn't have time to read because I was devoting all this time to one book.  

Now, I am aware of how neurotic this seems, and that is what concerns me.  This reading that I was all stressed out about had no deadline attached, no one else waiting for me to be done, no book group hinging on it, this was purely pleasure reading... Or it should have been, so why was I feeling all this stress?  

Somehow I cannot even bring myself to relax about my relaxation anymore.  And I don't think I am alone in this.  Some of it has to do with our instant gratification society, and entertainment that comes at us fast and furious, so we don't need to put in a lot of time for anything.  But some of it is also about how we have attached value to busyness, and that is what makes me most concerned.  I don't want to have to feel stressed out to feel like my time has purpose.  

Reading is what relaxes me, and that is purpose enough for me!