Why I’m proud of my tsundoku problem

On the art of buying books and never reading them

Photo by Jessica Ruscello on Unsplash

I have a problem. A book problem. I have unwittingly perfected the art of buying books and never reading them.

There is a name for this. Tsundoku is a Japanese term used to describe someone who owns a lot of unread literature. The word ‘doku’ means ‘reading’ while ‘tsun’ comes from the words ‘tsunde-oku’ (to pile up). Together tsundoku means buying a lot of reading material and piling it up.

The key thing to note is that tsundoku is not about buying books to collect them. It’s not about impressing people with your bookshelves when you’re on a Zoom call or decorating the house to achieve a bookish interior look. Tsundoku is about buying books you intend to read but haven’t yet got around to. For me, the intention part is really important.

I buy a lot of books. I spend hours in bookshops, keep up to date with the new releases and what’s doing well in the charts. I love the smell of books, love chatting with fellow bookworms and wish I had all the time in the world to read more books. I read a hell of a lot, but I buy more than I can read.

The problem is not in the buying of them, it’s that they sit on my shelves, some of them for weeks, some for months or even years, waiting to be read. My intention to read them never goes away. It’s just that there are always new books competing for my attention and there is never enough time.

My book buying habit started at university, actively encouraged by my tutor. ‘It’s for your shelf,’ he’d say, handing out another reading list. ‘More books for the shelf.’ And I’d rush off to Foyles on Charing Cross Road to stock up. Back then, I always read them, but as my interest in books grew and grew, the balance of books bought to books read shifted dramatically.

My shelf became a bookcase and then a room and has now taken over the house. I have several bookcases that are full of books that I’ve still to read. I have others piled so high they might one day topple over and crush me to death.

My family doesn’t understand why I clutter up the house. My dad has offered several times over the years to box up the books and take them—horror of horrors—to the tip. He once said I was ruining my life with so many books. He’s not a reader. He doesn’t understand. If I wasn’t so like him in other ways, I’d wonder if he was my father.

My husband tolerates my book habit, moving house several times over the years to accommodate my expanding library. He once suggested a one in three out policy, but it never caught on.

My niece calls me a book nerd, and this makes me smile because I am proud of my passion for books and reading. They’ve shaped my career. They’ve made me who I am.

The book-buying and not reading them problem is not actually a problem at all. It’s a pleasure. Buying books makes me happy. I just need more time to read them, and I’m working on that.

This week, I was thinking about my spring reading and instead of buying new books, shopped my own bookshop, browsing my shelves and selecting five books that I would read to get me started on the backlog.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

This book came out in 2012 and has been an international bestseller with a film adaptation and several sequels. I’m halfway through it and don’t want to put it down. I am new to Jojo Moyes, reading her latest novel last month, and I am so excited to have her entire backlist to discover. This will obviously involve buying more books, but needs must.

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

‘You mean you haven’t read Brick Lane?’ I hear you cry. ‘How is that possible?’

All I can say in my defence is that this book has been on my shelf for a long time, dare I say decades… It’s stayed with me through several house moves so I was always going to get to it at some point in my lifetime.

All the Good Things by Clare Fisher

This one was a present from my auntie when we were shopping together in Leeds a few years ago, so it is special because it was a present. It’s a book that sounds exactly my kind of thing. The author has a long-standing interest in social exclusion and the particular ways it affects vulnerable women and girls.

How We Met by Katy Regan

Back in the day, I loved Katy Regan’s column And Then There Were Three in Marie-Claire magazine about having a baby with her friend. This was turned into a novel, which I can’t believe I haven’t read or even bought because I really enjoyed the column. How We Met is Katy’s third novel and was published in 2012. Again, I’m really looking forward to delving into the back catalogue and buying more books, obviously.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This book sits in a particular position on my bookcase where I see it every day—not intentionally, I might add. It just got shoved there during one of the house moves. Every day, it screams to me ‘read me, read me’. Often during a break at work, I’ll pick it up, flick through the pages, read the blurb, and promise I will get to it soon, before placing it back onto the shelf. Now is the time… maybe.

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Have you read any of these titles? Do you read a lot? Do you buy books but never get around to reading them? What books have you bought that you still haven’t read?

I’d love to hear about your reading habits, let me know in the comments.

About me: I’m Liz Champion, a writer and book nerd from Yorkshire who has perfected the art of tsundoku and is proud of that. Even when others try to shame me.