Books of different genres and orders lying over one another plead you to rearrange them but you are not done reading. The demise of your best-loved protagonist for his/her hamartia has broken you from the core and you avenge the pain by shooting the book at the corner table.

You are finifugal for a specific book that was hyped but you gave up halfway and it found its place in middle of the unorganised pile.

Are you a libriocubicularist and love grazing the book on your bed? Or are you greedy reader, possessive enough to let them go out of your immediate sight and end up having that unvanquishable book pile? Does any of these sound familiar to you? Then by God’s grace, you have acquired the erotic art of Tsundoku.

Define me, Tosser!

Tsundoku, evolved in the Meiji era (1864-1912) as a Japanese slang, has found its way into our modern-day life. According to Prof.Andrew Gerstle, University of London, the “tsun” of tsundoku was derived from “tsumu” that means “to pile up” and “doku” is a term used for “reading”. It was mentioned in some early texts in 1879 about a teacher who has lots of books but never reads them. This term has been nagging around lately and talked about in many media like BBC, The New York Times, Atlas Obscura and even in many bookstagram accounts.

There are similar terms like “Pile de Livres” or “Pila de Libros” or even in Hindi as “Pustak dher”. It literally means the book piles or reading piles. Book hoarders buy reading materials and keep piling them up. We lectiophiles appreciate a library around us and tend to own more and more books. But in this digital era where we have options like E-Books, EPUBs & PDFs, hard copies, periodically, are left unread and unattended.

Aveux!

Zaida, a bookstagrammer, confessed “My bibliolatry has taken me to the limit where I get frustrated when my favourite novel disappears from my sight. This has led to the budding of mini book stacks all around my house like a mosaic.”

Christen, a scriptwriter, is book bossomed and carries his current reads everywhere. “I pull out and start reading even when I’ve like 5-10 minutes while waiting for someone. My bag gets so heavy that results in late-night shoulder ache. Recently I’ve switched to ebooks, they are lighter and you can carry an entire library with you. But of course, the hard pieces are piling up at home”

Nikita, a ghostwriter, is a typical bibliotaph. To protect her assets, she keeps stacking them in mini cabinets around the house; books are left unread and unattended for months.

I myself am a scripturient & have handwritten chronicles, sticky notes, micro-story tips lying around. I pick up magazines, brochures and booklets that appeal to my sights. Being a classic lover, buying hard editions can cost me a fortune. So I download E-books, PDFs, EPUBs to satisfy my urges.

Then get over me!

The question here is how can we? How can we reduce the lump and give attention to every book? After all, we are not libricides, are we? Here I share my fraction of tips that have assisted me to combat my guilts.

5-step rules to break up with me!

Book limit: No matter how much we cherish new books, we must limit our hoarding. If you can complete an average of 3 books a month, try reading the old unread clams first and then add new ones. This way you can accomplish your “to be read” goal with books from your old heap and satisfy your bibliosomiac propensity with new ones.

Have some readgret: You have pieces lying there since the moment universe ejected electron and protons for the first time. Finish reading them first! You can opt for the digital versions of some of the books. Try getting your hands on soft copies of those you think are light reads.

Be a bibliopole: You can sell the books that you no longer are interested in. The ones you regret buying; the ones that failed your expectations. And if your heart is big enough, you can even donate them to orphanages or libraries. No need to feel “shelfrighteous” about your wad, you have junks lying there. Get rid of them. And voila! You have space for your new tots.

Plan-scribble -act: Planners or journals, monthly or weekly, will help you keep a track of your reading journey. Plan a one-week TBR list that includes the old ones and the new ones. Stick to it. Read the books that truly interests you. Keep a theme that sets a mood, like “feeling blue-Monday” or “foodie-Friday”.

Stop being a Bibliophagist: Finishing a book is not an obligation. It doesn’t matter how many books you read. It’s your life and you make the rules. Stressing your mind and eyes won’t take you anywhere. Taking part in Bibliobibuli race will detach you from the rest of the world. Slow down, take a deep breath. Read a book to enlighten yourself; soothe your soul. But give your mind a break to rearrange its compartments.

Did these work for you?

Piles of unread books have always unnerved me.

My mind was more concentrated in planning to read than actually implementing the ideas. The heap kept growing. It was chaos. Leaving behind the habit of Tsundoku has given me time to rearrange my shelf where the unreads grasp my primary sight and attained ones are satisfactorily placed at a handy distance. I started taking breaks between my reads.
I no longer have the pressure of fulfilling the goal. I can focus more on what affects my emotions than what affects my social media status. I can extract more from what I read; can comprehend several authors’ perspectives crystal clear.

Inferred the true significance of the quotation,

“Whatever your quirky reason is, remember the times when reading sparks joy, not misery.”