One of the things I love about learning other languages is the words that don’t translate, words that perfectly capture something that might take sentences to explain in English. Like this one:
I went to the annual used book sale in Rockliffe Park today, which is basically the Beverly Hills of Ottawa. I intended to only pick up a couple of books, because I already have exactly zero space on my bookshelves, but then this happened…
I know, I have terrible self control in places like that. Some highlights:
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (and the related work Death Comes To Pemberton) – This book sold me on the snarky back cover description: “Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.” It’s true (sorry all you diehard fans out there) I have never had even the faintest desire to read the original. “It is a truth universally acknowledge that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”
- Eats, Shoots and Leaves– A book for writers, “The zero tolerance approach to punctuation.” I’ve read excerpts of it for classes but never the whole thing. Since I’m in the midst of daily posting for Nano Poblano, this book probably has the best chance of leaving my 積んどくpile for “books I’ve actually read.”
- The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights – This one pretty much speaks for itself. Super old cover, excellent find!
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and other books in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers series – I have the original but these are books 2, 3 and 5 of the series. Most of the most useful life advice I’ve ever had comes from Douglas Adams.
Never go anywhere without a towel – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- Signposts to Adventure – A travel adventure book from the 1940s that was recommended to me by a random old man at the book sale. Sounds promising!
Which of the books in my stack sounds most interesting to you? Do you have a Tsundoku problem? What’s the next book on your list of “things to read?”
Breaking Moulds 
OMG I love that there is a word for this. I do this but never knew it had a name!
Yeah, it’s so great. I move we make it English like we do with so many other foreign loan words!
I love this word! Right now I have about 7 partially read books on my dresser, a couple on my Kindle (which I really love… and I tend to finish the books on it… just realized that), and a stack of writing books, including Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. 😉
Awesome! Maybe the Kindle bullies you into finishing books because of always reminding you of the percentages? My husband has a Kobo and I find, when I read on it, I have to get to 100%. Must be the gamer in me.
I too am a book addict, and the only way I manage to temper my appetite is going to the library. I am constantly surrounded by books in various stages of completion.
Libraries are magical! Cheap used books are pretty awesome too, and I will most likely return/re-donate many of them (and maybe more) in time for next year’s epic sale.
I used to have that problem, now that I am fully nomadic, I have to read books as they come, and let them go. It’s not in my nature to do this, but it beats electronic books. If you like Eats, Shoots and Leaves, then you should like The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager and the Doomed.
Part of me really wishes I could live like that – I should because I move around so much and books are freaking heavy to move but… my precious books…
Thanks for the recommendation I’ll def look it up!
I have books in storage, but not many. I’ve had to part with so many of them. I gave many of my books to the library at the last university where I worked, so I feel good about that.
I didn’t know there was a word for that. 🙂 I definitely have this problem. I’ve got multiple bookshelves, and a small stack of books I’ve been meaning to start. But then I go to the library and check out more…. I’ve got the whole Mistborn trilogy waiting for me, but I’m stuck on a history of the popes, and one of those Kinsey Millhone detective novels. Sigh…
More bookshelves is obviously the solution 😉
It’s surprising more languages don’t have this word!