tsundoku

Why this word is great

TSUNDOKU — [Noun] The practice of acquiring books and allowing them to accumulate unread. From Japanese 積ん読 (tsundoku), a blend of tsunde oku ("to pile up and leave") and dokusho ("reading books"). Unlike "bibliophilia" (which revels in ownership) or "abibliophobia" (the fear of lacking books), tsundoku is the art of deferred literary intimacy. It is the leaning tower of paperbacks by the bed, the pristine first editions behind glass, the dog-eared bookmark frozen on page 12—not failure, but faith in the self who will, one day, read them all.