Tsondoku

 

 

We’ve had some unions out west return from a two-week strike (and a couple of sympathy strikes) and I spent the morning taking care of that from my humble accounting end. I’m waiting to hear back from a couple of people and am otherwise caught up, if not slightly ahead of the curve, going into the final third of May. So I thought to myself, sitting here alone in my home office, listening to the lawnmowing going on in the park across the street, “This would be an opportune time to compose a short blog post.”

 

Only problem is, not much is going on.

 

Yeah, there’s politics (Trump), there’s religion (Leo), there’s personal familial stuff common to all families that I don’t go into here on this semi-anonymous site. We’ve had a crappy weekend, including tornadoes last night and predicted ’nadoes this evening, but so far there’s been no damage to house or property, save for a few extra leaves blown on my yard. I did go outside at ten p.m. amidst the wailing of the howling storm sirens, hoping to glimpse a swirling mass of blackness post-lightning strike, but did not save for some highly evil-looking clouds resembling a demonic claw reaching down to the ground in the southwestern distance. Brilliant streaks of lightning hurled from Zeus himself, smashing the ground with what must have sounded like an atomic bomb explosion to Oppenheimer and his bros, convinced me that it would be best to huddle inside on the ground floor with the family.

 

Then I turned my head and saw my On-Deck pile. These are books I’ve bought that I just haven’t found the time, energy, or circumstance to read. Like teachers appearing when you are ready for them, I find the same is often true with books.

 

Also, I’ve suffered all my adult life from “tsondoku,” if indeed that can be considered a form of suffering. “Tsondoku” is the Japanese word for collecting and accumulating books meant to be read at some uncertain point in the future. It is not neglect, but a weird kind of joy, knowing that there is always a book at hand, ready to unlock some corner of the universe for you, to thrill you, inspire you, inform you, change you, or merely distract you.

 

Here are some of the choice tomes sitting in my half-dozen closely situated On-Deck piles:

 

The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge (2002) by Michael Punke. The book which the beautiful and harrowing Leonardo di Caprio moved was based. Originally purchased January 2020.

 

The Thin Red Line (1962) by James Jones. Bought in March 2021 while I was still in the midst of my World War II tinkering.

 

Being and Nothingness (1956) by Jean-Paul Sartre. One day I’ll get to it, if only to beat the depression out of myself when I find myself blanketed in it. Bought back in October 2018.

 

The Winds of War (1971) by Herman Wouk. Bought August 2015 at a thrift store in Hilton Head for a buck or two. Pre-dates my World War II interest; I just always liked Wouk since I read him in English class in Middle School.

 

The Way of Kings (2010) by Brandon Sanderson. Bought in July of 2020. Trying to break into some non-nauseating modern fantasy in search of a compelling universe to fall into. Interesting but not addicting; I’ve tried it twice over the past five years but only got as far as page 70 on both attempts.

 

The Prophecies of Nostradamus (1973) by Erika Cheatham. Schlocky and non-scholarly interpretations of the prophecies of Michel de Nostradame. Bought in tandem with a better work in May 2023. I’ll get to it eventually. I enjoyed stuff like this as a kid and its always nostalgic fun to revisit now and then.

 

Plus about ten books on Catholicism, three on Buddhism, two Robert Ludlum spy hardcovers, a handful of science fiction paperbacks, four tomes on World War II (plus a fifth I want to re-read – but that’s an encyclopedia in itself), two books on the Roman Empire, and four more on philosophy. And those are the ones I can see. That’s about 35 books. Still have a couple boxes packed away in storage, so the total tsondoku Hopper has could range upwards of 60-70 books. I’ll have to consider these for 2026; this year’s all “booked” right up to New Year’s Eve.

 

Happy Reading!