There’s a name for that pile of books next to your bed. It’s called tsundoku.

I counted a pile of 10 books on the nightstand next to my bed. This unread stack is particularly tall today because a fellow bibliophile was downsizing their lifetime collection, and I bought some of it. There are two semi-biographies, novels, and books about plants and wildlife; there is no rhyme or reason to what ends up here.

Many of you will have a similar stack in your home, I am sure. Maybe even more than one or a long list of titles queueing up on a Kindle. To the untrained eye, seeing books scattered around the place might seem untidy. Friends and family probably question why you buy more books before finishing the first one. Fear not! There is a reasonable explanation for it, and it even has a name. 

In Japanese culture the act of buying books you don’t immediately read is called tsundoku. “Doku” means reading and “tsun” originates from a word meaning “to pile up.” This accidental collection for eventual reading carries no negative connotations in Japan. Instead, it is accepted that each unread pile is a source of joy for those who find comfort in the presence of books. That there is excitement in discovering the words and wisdom, hidden like treasures, within them. 

I have always done this, as a child and an adult. My father had stacks of books around our house. Read, unread, half-read or waiting to be read. New books would randomly appear on shelves already bursting at the seams. Growing up, this was as normal as breathing. So much so that I remember none of the furniture we owned but can describe pretty much most of the books that were on our shelves. 

But I was today years old when I learned that there is a Japanese word for it which describes the anticipation of buying and owning books that will fill our inner world with pure joy when we begin reading them. So, there you have it! Next time anyone dares to question why you are buying another book, simply explain to them it is not a purchase but your practice of tsundoku.