Electric Lit asks indie bookstores which books are most frequently stolen and why - and finds a link between pretentiousness and book theft. For example, this comment from Lexi Beach, owner of the Astoria bookshop in Queens:
"The conclusion we've come to is that people steal books that they think will make them seem smart but perhaps have no intention of reading (and hence don't want to pay for?). The link seems to be a sense of pretentiousness, looking at the specific books that walk."
Electric Lit includes a P.S. directed at any would be book thieves: Independent bookstores are magical, endangered places. Stealing from these small, often struggling establishments is a mortal sin and the Book Gods will smite you. If you must kidnap books (which you shouldn't, because libraries exist) then steal from big box stores instead.
"The conclusion we've come to is that people steal books that they think will make them seem smart but perhaps have no intention of reading (and hence don't want to pay for?). The link seems to be a sense of pretentiousness, looking at the specific books that walk."
Electric Lit includes a P.S. directed at any would be book thieves: Independent bookstores are magical, endangered places. Stealing from these small, often struggling establishments is a mortal sin and the Book Gods will smite you. If you must kidnap books (which you shouldn't, because libraries exist) then steal from big box stores instead.