Tsundoku 

積ん読

Leaving a book unread after buying it.

What I imagine are piles of books strewn around the room. Or stocked up neatly on the table. Waking up first thing in the morning and seeing books somewhere right above your head is somehow reassuring. Somehow owning more books than you can read is exciting because you know adventure is waiting for you in each one. I used to buy them impulsively myself. Not a lot. Biut still, I would spend hours on end in book stores. It was never possible to me to leave without a book. But I don’t do it any more.

Nowadays, my source of excitement is a little different. We can build infinite e-libraries courtesy of e-book services. Endless libraries, worlds, stories always in the palm of my hand. Endless possibilities. I can read absolutely any book I want any time, anywhere. To have several books lined up on my reader is exciting because I have this sense of anticipation. A new adventure, a new story is just at my fingertips. It’s more convenient. Perhaps it also helps to be selective. A book I want to return to and reread is one that deserves a physical copy on my shelf. But I can take my time choosing having access to inifite books. I really value this, it’s a gift.

Looking for books | inspiration

1. TED’s reading lists – there are always some interesting choices.
2. Brainpickings – a site that focuses on the literary arts and always has something beautiful or thoughtful to recommend.
3. Book-focused pages /groups on Facebook. There are many, including themed ones, i.e Japanese literature. Good to follow publishers too.
4. Books long and short-listed for prizes – I check those out too.
5. Goodreads – reviews and looking up specific titles
6. Openculture.com – great for a lot of things

Books | reading material

• Audible – is the only audiobook resource I’d use for the narrators including some of my favourite voices but I am not focused enough on listening, I definitely prefer to see what I read.
• Sacred Texts – one of my oldest favourites, along with Gutenberg. Focuses on collecting texts about religion, spirituality, myth.
• Folklore and fairy tales
• Openculture.com
• Amazon Kindle –  I find here mostly everything I want. You can return books and get a refund.
• Google books
• Bookmate –  a social app that offers unlimited access to books. for a monthly fee. I find a lot of good reads there but does not have all the titles I want to check out.  
• Netgalley (via Aldiko app) – get books for free, write a review.
• Gutenberg.org (via Moonreader, I like this app)
• Perseus Digital Library of primary and secondary source materials for ancient Greece and Rome and other things
• Internet Archive aka Wayback machine – great for all kinds of resources.
• Comixology – for comics and graphic novels – The numbers of items available keep growing, but still can’t find the things I’d like.

Special mention: Serial Reader (Google Store) – read classics in installments (around 600 titles available), 20-minute long bits. A bit a day. I really like this idea.

Research

• Questia.com – in the absence of access to institutional resources, I use that to find research material. It’s subscription-based but has a few things I need.It’s been there for years, and I rely on it whenb I have the money and can’t access the resources I need in any other way.
• Researcher app – seems good for journals. You can set up a feed consisting of your research interests and turn on “open access” filter.
• JSTOR
• World E-Book Library –  interested in this one