(Noun) The tsundoku, that Ode to the Great Unread, Shrine to the Word, Bibliophile's Inukshuk, Pillar of
Light and Savior of Sorts, is the artistic and/or scientific materialization of piling up newly acquired books, in a TRP or TRQ, for utilitarian (lack of reading time/
space/bookshelves) and/or
psycho-pathologic (abibliophobia, fetish, OCD, hoarding or addiction) reasons.
The term dates back to the japanese Meiji era (1868-1912) and literally means 'reading pile'. Formed from the expression 'tsunde oku' (to let
something pile up), in which 'oku' was swapped out for 'doku' (to read); the words then got cleverly mushed together.
The tsundoku scale ranging from just one unread
book to a serious hoard, everyone is most likely to be "tsundokursed" one way or the other. Luckily, this isn't the worst problem one can have.
I have no feelings of guilt regarding the piles of books I have not read and
perhaps will
never read; I know that my tsundokus have unlimited
patience. They will wait for me till the end of my days.