Today’s prompt led me down the most delightful rabbit hole, and I have added a new word to my vocabulary (it is always a good day when that happens).
Tsundoku is acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up about the home… without reading them. Tsundoku may also be used to refer to books ready for reading later when they are on a bookshelf (or bedside table, coffee table, or piled against a wall because there is literally nowhere else to store them).
These both apply to me.
I have both been called, and called myself a serial book hoarder. I have also explained with complete sincerity that all of these books are for “my retirement”. The magical future time when I can read the 800+ books I have on philosophy, the workings of the universe, the (almost) complete archaeological record of ancient Egypt up to 1998, psychology, herbalism, and myriad other niche topics that when I am taken by them I buy up books of.
Having a physical copy of every one of Stephen King’s books represents more than hoarding - he was the first adult writer I really got into, way back in year 5, when my librarian (thank you Mrs Mar) acquired books from the high school for me because she could see the one Ray Bradbury anthology the primary school had was not going to cut it. To say nothing of my Kindle and the hundreds of books there. And audible - that is a whole other thing, and where I consume, ingest, imbibe, ravish, relish most of my fiction works now, because it is something I can be enveloped in as I paint.
Needless to say, “what are you reading?” can be a rather loaded question - I usually have a couple of physical books, a couple of kindle books, and at least one audible book all going at once.
What I will share with you though is a collection of books released by the Centre for Humans and Nature called “Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations”. It is extraordinary. I am only on Volume 1 (there are 5 volumes, Planet, Place, Partners, Persons, Practice).And I am relishing every sentence.
“In this moment when the certainty of our future is dissipating like the meltwater of warming glaciers, we know we are living in both a scientific age and times of mythic consequence. And yet we have erased myth from the stories we use to find our way, leaving only reason. It was Einstein who cautioned us to use them both.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer
A Family Reunion Near the End of the World
Kinship | Volume1 : Planet
What are you reading today?
(6th August 2022)
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(this month I am following along with Susannah Conway (Ink on My Fingers) #augustbreak2022 prompts. Today’s prompt was ‘I’m Reading’)
Thank you for sharing these. I have just read about them and are now definitely on my must-have list. And they are also so aesthetically pleasing!
The joy of discovery, and that discovery has now included your wonderful writings. I look forward to reading through past writings as I feel the pull of a like soul. To a magical life!