What Is Tsundoku?
Tsundoku strikes again – I have just added two more fresh-from-the-bookstore books to the wobbling pile of ‘to-read’ books on the shelf. This pile does not include the stack of Reading-In-Progress (RIP) books (my 3 summer reads too) sitting on the other end of the shelf. Besides, the latter has yet to account for my various Kindle purchases sitting in the cloud.
Currently, there is no English term that precisely describes this phenomenon – the accumulation of unread books I initially bought with every intention of reading them. The phenomenon is not the same as bibliomania. Bibliomania, on the other hand, means an obsession with amassing certain books, such as first editions. Japanese has a word that cleverly captures the phenomenon – Tsundoku.
Where Does It Come From?
Tsundoku is a Japanese term with origins tracing back to as far as the Meiji era (1868-1912). The term is a product of combining two elements – ‘let something pile up’ and ‘to read’. Today it commonly means buying books with the intention of reading them; however, for a thousand-and-one reasons, most stay unread and start to pile up. Even though Tsundoku dates back over 150 years, it is only in recent years that it has become a buzzword. Indeed, a quick search on Google shows that the earliest appearance on internet was in 2012.
Causes of Tsundoku Syndrome
- FOMO on good reads – bestseller lists make me buy first, read later.
- Learning French opened up a whole new world of Francophone literature. However, more books to buy and slower reading mean the backlog just keeps growing.
- Similarly, moving to France means reading up on its history and culture, preferably in French – right down to Le Tour de France.
- A good read is hard to find – once you spot one in a bookstore, you buy it on the spot.
- The feel of crisp new pages, a cover that begs you to buy it – who can resist?
- Consequently, library e-reads via Singapore’s OverDrive app add thousands more books to juggle alongside my own purchases.
- A staggering pile nags you into reading a few pages, even after an exhausting day – or is that perverse logic?
And you? Does Tsundoku affect you too? What’s causing it?