/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.16371406]

My piles of books are becoming overwhelming, but I cannot stop collecting them. What does this mean?

[Anonymous No.16371414]

You are reading them, correct?

[Anonymous No.16371419]

>>16371414

Yes, but obviously not keeping up the pace.

[Anonymous No.16371439]

>>16371406
you should start donating them to public libraries, like a man.

[Anonymous No.16371455]

It means you will one day be buried alive by them in a book avalanche. The tragicomic story of your death will then be told for generations by old ladies to their grandchildren as a kind of modern-day aesop's fable about greed and temptation.

[Anonymous No.16371462]

>>16371455

It needn't even be a fable. This happened for real to the Collier brothers.

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!oI3er5KKetj No.16371494]

This means you’re a hoarder.
Got a bookcase to keep them neat?
1. Read what you already have. Don’t get more till this is done.
2. Get rid of what you don’t want or need anymore.
If a new book comes to your attention, write it down. Wait.

[Anonymous No.16371510]

>>16371494

My GoodReads to-read is several hundred books larger than what I currently own to begin with. I've done a lot of "writing down", so to speak.

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !!oI3er5KKetj No.16371523]

>>16371510
There ya go.
Do you post pics of your shelves in those threads?
—Or are we talking about pdfs?

[Anonymous No.16371524]

>>16371510
Then have a better filter, idiot. Don't write down every book someone says is good.

[Anonymous No.16371529]

It means we have fetishized the commodity know knowledge, my friend. I too keep buying books, hoping it will fill some endless void inside of me, that I will find the answers if I just buy one more tome of philosophy or one more classical great of the literary world. Perhaps one more trashy science fiction novel will distract me from the tragedy of my existence, but no matter how many I buy or download, I continue to shitpost on this god forsaken website. And thus they continue to become taller and taller stacks of dead trees, decorating my home only for me, to mock me.

[Anonymous No.16371628]

>>16371523
>Do you post pics of your shelves in those threads?

No. I'm not really into the shelf-thread or stack-thread thing, but I really enjoy collecting.

>>16371524

They're pretty much all non-fiction history. This is my primary filter.

[Anonymous No.16371733]

>>16371529
You clearly read book for the wrong reason. It doesn't work like that.

[Anonymous No.16371868]

>>16371733
How does it work then?

[Anonymous No.16371895]

>>16371406
It means it's time to switch to ereaders

>>16371529
Unholy levels of based

[Anonymous No.16371902]

>>16371406
you love books
i love books too
i love buying books
i love having books

[Anonymous No.16371906]

why not uh stop buying books until you finish the one youre reading and only buy one at a time

[Anonymous No.16371953]

>>16371902
>i love books too
>i love buying books
>i love having books

It just feels so good when you're doing it.

[Anonymous No.16371954]

>>16371455
Wasn't that the beginning of L'Île des Pengouins?

[Anonymous No.16371981]

>>16371406
This is why I have a kindle.

[Anonymous No.16372067]

>>16371406
turn your internet off for a month and get reading

[Anonymous No.16372156]

>>16371494
stfu stupid

[Anonymous No.16372173]

>>16371902
>mfw

[Anonymous No.16372240]

>Tsundoku (Japanese: 積ん読) is acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them.[1][2][3]

>The term originated in the Meiji era (1868–1912) as Japanese slang.[4] It combines elements of tsunde-oku (積んでおく, to pile things up ready for later and leave) and dokusho (読書, reading books). It is also used to refer to books ready for reading later when they are on a bookshelf. As currently written, the word combines the characters for "pile up" (積) and the character for "read" (読).There are suggestions to include the word in the English language and in dictionaries like the Collins Dictionary.

>Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity… we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance.-A. E. Newton


So then what is the manifest property of books and getting them that leads to their hoarding.

Factors leading to hoarding:
>Personality. Many people who have hoarding disorder have a temperament that includes indecisiveness.
>Family history. There is a strong association between having a family member who has hoarding disorder and having the disorder yourself.
>Stressful life events. Some people develop hoarding disorder after experiencing a stressful life event that they had difficulty coping with, such as the death of a loved one, divorce, eviction or losing possessions in a fire.


So thus, there must be some quality of a book, some idea or symbol of books that leads to this experience, as opposed to hoarding of other things like DvDs or empty bottles and so on. I believe the analysis here cannot be generalized due to the nature of personality/family history/life events and the endless representations that books can have. Someone's affinity for history books might be specific from a father who loved history books dying in a tragic fire that led to the entire collection being destroyed. Or maybe someone seeks answers and finds that books comfort that lacking feeling their personality has developed over years of existential crisis. Perhaps some feel a sense of superiority as the books represent a physical manifestation of knowledge or access to knowledge over other people. I'm not sure we can come to a specific conclusion of this, but I believe we have narrowed it down quite a bit. It could also just be capitalism.

[Anonymous No.16372249]

>>16371406
read the japanese new age sensation