Tag Archives: Books

One Nonfiction Bestseller of each year from 1900-1999

Posted on January 22, 2023 | 2 comments

Hello Everyone!

This time I have chosen one bestseller from each year of 1900 to 1999 in the Nonfiction genre, although you will notice that for fifteen of those years there were no nonfiction books mentioned for me to add. What I found was books published that were “critically acclaimed and historically significant.” I might post those another time. If you know of any nonfiction bestsellers for those missing fifteen years, please post in the comments.

For two years there was a War Nonfiction Bestseller list from which I have chosen and added here. Also, in the case of a specific book continuing to be on the Bestsellers’ list in other years, I have included an additional book in that same year.

1900-1911- none

1912: The Promised Land by Mary Antin

1913: Crowds by Gerald Stanley Lee

1914 – 1916: none

1917 & 1918: Rhymes of a Red Cross Man by Robert W. Service;

1917: War Nonfiction Bestseller: The First Hundred Thousand by Ian Hay

1918: Treasury of War Poetry by G.H. Clark;

1918: War Nonfiction Bestseller: My Four Years in Germany by James W. Gerard

1919: The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

1920: Now It Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs

1921 & 1922: The Outline of History by H.G. Wells

1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon

1923: Etiquette by Emily Post

1924 – 1926: Diet and Health by Lulu Hunt Peters

1925 & 1926: The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fannie Farmer, ed.

1926: The Man Nobody Knows by Bruce Barton

1927: The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant

1928: Disraeli by Andre’ Maurois

1929: The Art of Thinking by Ernest Dimnet

1930 & 1931: The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe

1931: Education of a Princess by Grand Duchess Marie

1932: The Epic of America by James Truslow Adams

1933 & 1934: Life Begins at Forty by Walter B. Pitkin

1934 & 1935: While Rome Burns by Alexander Woollcott

1935 & 1936: North to the Orient by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

1936: Man the Unknown by Alexis Carrell

1937 & 1938: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

1938: The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang

1939 & 1940: Days of Our Years by Pierre Van Paasen

1940: I Married Adventure by Osa Johnson

1941: Berlin Diary by William L. Shirer

1942 & 1943: See Here, Private Hargrove by Marion Hargrove

1943 & 1944:Under Cover by John Roy Carlson

1944: I Never Left Home by Bob Hope

1945: Brave Men by Ernie Pyle

1946, 1945 & 1947: The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald

1947 & 1948: Peace of Mind by Joshua L. Liebman

1948: Crusade in Europe by Dwight D. Eisenhower

1949: White Collar Zoo by Clare Barnes Jr.

1950 & 1951: Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book

1951: Look Younger, Live Longer by Gayelord Hauser

1952 – 1954: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version

1953 – 1955: The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

1954: Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

1955: Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindberg

1956: Arthritis and Common Sense, rev. ed. by Dan Dale Alexander

1957 & 1958: Kids Say the Darndest Things! by Art Linkletter

1958 & 1959: Twixt Twelve and Twenty by Pat Boone

1959 & 1960: Folk Medicine by D.C. Jarvis

1960: Better Homes and Gardens First Aid for Your Family

1961 & 1962: The New English Bible: The New Testament

1962 & 1961: Calories Don’t Count by Dr. Herman Taller

1963 & 1962: Happiness Is a Warm Puppy by Charles M. Schulz

1964: Four Days by American Heritage and United Press International

1965: How To Be a Jewish Mother by Dan Greenburg

1966: How to Avoid Probate by Norman F. Dacey

1967: Death of a President by William Manchester

1968: Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

1969 & 1970: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language by William Morris, ed.

1970: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex but Were Afraid To Ask by David Reuben

1971: The Sensous Man by “M”

1972 & 1973: The Living Bible by Kenneth Taylor

1973: Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins

1974: The Total Woman by Marabel Morgan

1975 & 1976: Angels: God’s Secret Agents by Billy Graham

1976: The Final Days by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

1977 & 1976: Roots by Alex Haley

1978: If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? by Erma Bombeck

1979: Aunt Erma’s Cope Book by Erma Bombeck

1980: Crisis Investing: Opportunities and Profits in the Coming Great Depression by Douglas R. Casey

1981: The Beverly Hills Diet by Judy Mazel

1982 & 1983: Jane Fonda’s Workout Book by Jane Fonda

1983: In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr.

1984 & 1985: Iacocca: An Autobiography by Lee Iacocca with William Novak

1985: Yeager: An Autobiography by Gen. Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos

1986: Fatherhood by Bill Cosby

1987: Time Flies by Bill Cosby

1988: The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure by Robert E. Kowalski

1989: All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things by Robert Fulghum

1990: A Life on the Road by Charles Kuralt

1991: Me: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn

1992: The Way Things Ought To Be by Rush Limbaugh

1993: See, I Told You So by Rush Limbaugh

1994: In the Kitchen with Rosie by Rosie Daley

1995 (1993 – 1997): Men Are from Mars, Women are From Venus by John Gray

1996: Make the Connection by Oprah Winfrey, and Bob Greene Hyperion

1997: Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

1998: The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman

1999 & 1998: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

I hadn’t heard of most of the above 87 bestsellers, and I can remember reading only 6 of the ones that I recognized: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version; Roots; If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?; Aunt Erma’s Cope Book; Angela’s Ashes; Tuesdays with Morrie; and some of Men Are from Mars, Women are From Venus. One I have had on my to-read list for some time is The Egg and I.

I found it fascinating how interests changed during times of war, including the few years before and after.

How did you do this time? How many have you read, and are there any you would now like to find to enjoy?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! – Lynn

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One Fiction Bestseller of each year from 1900 to 1999

Posted on January 16, 2023 | 8 comments

Hello Everyone!

I have chosen one popular book from each year of 1900 to 1999, and there were many I did not include but might another time. Note: Winston Churchill on this list is the American novelist, not the British prime minister – although Sir Winston Churchill was a prolific writer and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953.

Many of these I had not known of and only a few I have read.

1900: To Have and To Hold by Mary Johnston
1901: The Crisis by Winston Churchill
1902: The Virginian by Owen Wister
1903: Lady Rose’s Daughter by Mary Augusta Ward
1904: The Crossing by Winston Churchill
1905: The Marriage of William Ashe by Mary Augusta Ward
1906: Coniston by Winston Churchill
1907: The Lady of the Decoration by Frances Little
1908: Mr. Crewe’s Career by Winston Churchill
1909: The Inner Shrine by Basil King
1910: The Rosary by Florence Barclay
1911: The Broad Highway by Jeffrey Farnol
1912: The Harvester by Gene Stratton Porter
1913: The Inside of the Cup by Winston Churchill
1914: The Eyes of the World by Harold Bell Wright
1915: The Turmoil by Booth Tarkington
1916: Seventeen by Booth Tarkington
1917: Mr. Britling Sees It Through by H.G. Wells
1918: The U.P. Trail by Zane Grey
1919: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by V. Blasco Ibanez
1920: The Man of the Forest by Zane Grey
1921: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
1922: If Winter Comes by A.S.M. Hutchison
1923: Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton
1924: So Big by Edna Ferber
1925: Soundings by A. Hamilton Gibbs
1926: The Private Life of Helen of Troy by John Erskine
1927: Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
1928: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
1929: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
1930: Cimarron by Edna Ferber
1931: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
1932: Light in August by William Faulkner
1933: Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen
1934: I, Claudius by Robert Graves
1935: Green Light by Lloyd C. Douglas
1936: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
1937: Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts
1938: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1939: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
1940: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
1941: The Keys of the Kingdom by A.J. Cronin
1942: The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
1943: The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
1944: Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith
1945: Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
1946: The King’s General by Daphne du Maurier
1947: The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney
1948: The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas
1949: The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
1950: The Cardinal by Henry Morton Robinson
1951: From Here to Eternity by James Jones
1952: The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain
1953: The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
1954: Not as a Stranger by Morton Thompson
1955: Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk
1956: Don’t Go Near the Water by William Brinkley
1957: By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens
1958: Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
1959: Exodus by Leon Uris
1960: Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
1961: The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
1962: Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter
1963: The Shoes of Fisherman by Morris L. West
1964: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carre
1965: The Source by James A. Michener
1966: Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
1967: The Arrangement by Elia Kazan
1968: Airport by Arthur Hailey
1969: Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
1970: Love Story by Erich Segal
1971: Wheels by Arthur Hailey
1972: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
1973: Once is Not Enough by Jacqueline Susann
1974: Centennial by James A. Michener
1975: Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
1976: Trinity by Leon Uris
1977: The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien
1978: Chesapeake by James A. Michener
1979: The Matarese Circle by Robert Ludlum
1980: The Covenant by James A. Michener
1981: Noble House by James Clavell
1982: E.T. the Extraterrestrial Storybook by William Kotzwinkle
1983: Return of the Jedi Storybook by Joan D. Vinge
1984: The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
1985: The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel
1986: It by Stephen King
1987: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
1988: The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy
1989: Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy
1990: The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel
1991: Scarlett: The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind” by Alexandra Ripley
1992: Dolores Claiburne by Stephen King
1993: The Bridges of Madison County by James Robert Waller
1994: The Chamber by John Grisham
1995: The Rainmaker by John Grisham
1996: The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
1997: The Partner by John Grisham
1998: The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
1999: The Testament by John Grisham

I hope you’ve done better than I. Of the 100 listed I’ve read only these 6: All Quiet on the Western Front; Gone With the Wind; The Grapes of Wrath; Doctor Zhivago; The Spy Who Came in From the Cold; Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Of the many I have not read on the list, I think I have only two in my personal library: Ship of Fools; The Runaway Jury.

How many of the above have you read? Are there others on the list that you plan to read?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! – Lynn

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13 of the most terrifying books published

Posted on October 26, 2021 | 6 comments

Hey there, word lovers!

Since Hallowe’en is fast approaching, I thought this might be of interest to you. I found this list that was compiled by a library. They call it 13 Most Terrifying Books of All Time.

  1. Pet Sematary – by Stephen King
  2. The Island of Dr. Moreau – by H.G. Wells
  3. The Cask of Amontillado – by Edgar Allen Poe
  4. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – by Robert Louis Stevenson
  5. The Turn of the Screw – by Henry James
  6. Frankenstein – by Mary Shelley
  7. The Exorcist – by William Peter Blatty
  8. Something Wicked This Way Comes – by Ray Bradbury
  9. Silence of the Lambs – by Thomas Harris
  10. Hell House – by Richard Matheson
  11. Rosemary’s Baby – by Ira Levin
  12. Dracula – by Bram Stoker
  13. House of Leaves – by Mark Z. Danielewski

I will not read: #1 – Pet Sematary; #7 – The Exorcist (saw the movie years ago and that was enough!); #11 – Rosemary’s Baby.

I have read: #2 – Island of Dr. Moreau; #5 – The Turn of the Screw; #12 – Dracula (only in the daytime) – and they weren’t all that scary to me then. Well, except Dracula – which I enjoyed – although it kind of spooked me.

I plan to read: #6 – Frankenstein; #4 – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Since I sometimes can be easily spooked, being a very visual reader (and I don’t like being haunted by the visuals), the others I’m not sure about: #3 – The Cask of Amontillado; #8 – Something Wicked This Way Comes; #9 – Silence of the Lambs; #10 – Hell House; #13 – House of Leaves.

What do you advise? Which ones have you read, and what did you think of them? Which ones would you suggest I avoid?

Stay safe and well. Thanks for reading … and Happy Musings!

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4 Reviews: Uncommon Danger by Eric Ambler; Krambambuli by Syr Ruus; St. George and the Dragon by Beth Andrews; The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson

Posted on July 8, 2021 | 2 comments

Hi Everyone! I hope you are finding books to read from these brief reviews. Here are four more.

Title: Uncommon Danger

Author: Eric Ambler

Published: 1937

This is an old book I found – I love old books – and selected for prompt #17 – “A character “on the run”” in the 52BookClub challenge.

A freelance journalist is travelling by train when he meets another man who befriends him. That man asks him to carry an envelope for him, that he says holds his savings, because he is afraid that he will be relieved of it at checkpoints. The journalist thinks it odd but reluctantly agrees. That decision places the journalist in great danger when he finds the man murdered. The story involves government secrets, theft, villains, kidnappings, and much going on. Good mystery story.

Title: Krambambuli

Author: Syr Ruus

Published: October 2018

This is the book I chose for the 52bookclub reading challenge prompt #34 “a 5-star read.” I also used this book for the Indigo reading challenge under the prompt “A non-fiction book by a Canadian author.”


I don’t want to say too much and perhaps fail to do this book justice.
This is a memoir that is so very interesting, educational, personal. The author (with whom I am privileged to be acquainted) was born in Estonia, her life being deeply affected by WWII. She, with her mother, became displaced persons who lived in three different countries while trying to find a safe place to make their home. As immigrants they found passage to the US on a ship they hoped would not be bombed along the way. (Imagine it!)
The story is told through memories from the author’s childhood when she was a little girl full of fears and feelings of inadequacy and loneliness. (Her father was more absent than present in her life.) She tells about her life later in North America and her difficult relationship with her mother during her life in the US and after she immigrated to Canada. It made me wonder and marvel at the lovely woman that little girl became, overcoming so much. She has authored several very interesting books and is an encouragement to other writers.

Title: St. George and the Dragon

Author: Beth Andrews

Published: July 2005

I chose this book for the 52BookClub challenge and used it for prompt #43 – “a character with a pet cat.” The cat shows up rather late in the story but it still counts.

This story is based in England when the greatest courtesy was shown ladies by gentlemen, all in great formality and proper etiquette. A man of status challenged his nephew and his friend to accept a wager. He had them go to the elegant home of two young women who lived quiet, private lives, with instructions to woo them, win them, and then jilt them. Their reward would be a large sum of money. There is the suspected matter of “the dragon”, but things do not go quite as planned. Through surprises, resistance, humorous incidents, misunderstandings, the men realize their uncle and friend had placed them in an unexpected position.

Title: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Author: Sloan Wilson

Published: 1955

This is a really enjoyable read, which I chose for the 52BookClub challenge prompt #19 – “Book with a deckled edge.” I also used it for the club’s February mini-challenge prompt ”book with a red spine.” (My copy of the book is not the same as shown here, but is a gray hardcover with a red spine.)


A young man and his wife live in a lower class area and want a better home for themselves and their three children. He changes jobs, going to work for a wealthy businessman, with the hope of moving up in salary and importance, and then suffers through the changes it causes in his life. He also is haunted by a relationship he had during the war when he was away from his wife. He and his wife struggle in their marriage and realize they must be honest with themselves and one another in order to make a future together.
It seems a bit too cut and dried in my opinion by today’s standards, but it still is a great story.

Any comments on these books? Have you enjoyed any of them?

Thanks for reading, and … Happy Musings! 🙂

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Book Reviews: The Alice Network – Kate Quinn; The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah; Pier 21 – Steven Schwinghamer; Puff, the Magic Dragon – Peter Yarrow

Posted on June 23, 2021 | 2 comments

Hello everyone! I decided that I would post the short reviews I wrote for some of the books I’ve read for the reading challenges I’m participating in this year. Perhaps it will encourage you to read a few of the books. I’ll do a few per post.

Title: The Alice Network

Author: Kate Quinn

Published: June 6, 2017

What a great story! The reader is taken back and forth in time as a young woman searches for her cousin who was lost in the war. She meets a woman who was scarred, not just physically, but by what she suffered in the war, and their lives become intertwined. We learn about that woman’s life and difficult experiences as she did her part for the war. Very interesting and dramatic story.

In the 52BookClub 2021 challenge, this book fits prompt #3 – “a dual timeline.”

Title: The Great Alone

Author: Kristin Hannah

Published: February 6, 2018

This novel is fully captivating. A family of three, one being a Vietnam War veteran who has severe PTSD, move from place to place. Finally, after losing another job, he moves his wife and daughter to Alaska and a rugged life “off the grid.” His violent outbursts come back, though, affected by the few hours of light during Alaska winter, and his family lives in fear again. Things get very complicated and the reader gets pulled into their lives quite easily. There is much to learn about life there as the story unfurls.
This is a very good story with twists and drama that keep one reading, or listening on audio. Well worth it.

In the 52BookClub 2021 challenge, this book fits prompt #21 – “book by Kristin Hannah.”

Title: Pier 21: a History

Author: Steven Schwinghamer

Published: March 31, 2020

For anyone interested in the history of Nova Scotia, Canada, specifically Pier 21, immigration, movement of troops in the World Wars – this is the book to read. Very interesting information about the history of Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, including personal testimonies of immigrants’ experiences.

In the 52BookClub 2021 challenge, this book fits prompt #8 -“a book in the 900’s Dewey Decimal System.”

Title: Puff, the Magic Dragon

Author: Peter Yarrow

Published: August 1, 2007

I chose this for the 52BookClub 2021 challenge under prompt #30 – “watch out for dragons!”

It’s hard to write this without spoilers … so SPOILER ALERT!

This is a sweet and sad story of a boy and his dragon, Puff. They play together for years, until the boy grows up and the dragon is left alone again. The ending is great, though, when the next generation meets Puff.
I read the book that includes a CD with four songs on it, the first being the well known song – Puff the Magic Dragon – which can be followed along in the book.
Fabulous illustrations.

What have you been reading … or writing?

Thanks for reading … and Blessings on your day!

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Juneteenth (June 19) honours Black Americans. Here is a suitable Reading List.

Posted on June 19, 2021 | Leave a comment

Admittedly, I don’t venture far into books about race – and I don’t mean that in a bad way (I’m sorry … I don’t know how to phrase things to be sure it’s non-offensive) – but usually I don’t read a book because of who its author is or isn’t. Lately I have become more aware, you might say, and have read a few that, for me, are very educational and well worth reading. The following list of 35 books are some of many that are recommended reads in connection to Juneteenth and on issues of race.

  1. Four Hundred Souls – by Ibram X. Kendri
  2. On Juneteenth – by Annette Gordon-Reed
  3. Barracoon: the story of the last “Black Cargo” – by Zora Neale Hurston
  4. Frederick Douglass: prophet of freedom – by David W. Blight
  5. Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow – by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  6. A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance – by Hanif Abdurraqir
  7. How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America – by Kiera Laymon
  8. I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness – by Austin Channing Brown
  9. Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All – by Martha S. Jones
  10. A Black Woman’s History of the United States – by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
  11. His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope – by Jon Meacham
  12. Wandering in Strange Lands: a Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots – by Morgan Jerkins
  13. Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own – by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
  14. Overground Railroad: the Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America – by Candace Taylor
  15. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism – by Robin DiAngelo
  16. The Souls of Black Folk – by W.E.B. Du Bois
  17. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America – by Kahlil Gibran Muhammad
  18. The Origins of Others – by Toni Morrison
  19. White Rage: the Unspoken Truth of our Racial Divide – by Carol Anderson
  20. Progressive Dystopia: Abolition, Antiblackness, and Schooling in San Francisco – by Savannah Sange
  21. Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right – by Arli Hochschild
  22. City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles (1771-1965) – by Kelly Lytle Hernandez
  23. Race, Reform, and Rebellion: the Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America, 1945-2006 – by Manning Marable
  24. Racism: a Short History – by George M. Frederickson
  25. When Police Kill – by Franklin E. Zimring
  26. Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution and Imprisonment – by Angela Davis
  27. The Hate U Give – by Angie Thomas
  28. How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History Slavery Across America – by Clint Smith
  29. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together – by Heather McGhee
  30. From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century – by William A. Darity Jr. & A. Kirsten Mullen
  31. Pourin’ Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West – by Cheryl Foggo
  32. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance – A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power – by Danielle L. McGuire
  33. Kindred – by Octavia E. Butler
  34. Hidden Figures:The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race – by Margot Lee Shetterly
  35. Roots: the Saga of an American Family – by Alex Haley

The titles in bold type are the few on this list I have read so far. Which have you read? Do you have any suggestions to add to this list? If so, please mention them in the comments. Thank you!

Thanks for readings, and … Blessings on your day! 🙂

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Ever Hear of TSUNDOKU?

Posted on June 2, 2021 | 9 comments

Hi there!

I have a question for you to start this off … Do you practice Tsundoku? Had you ever heard of it?

Tsundoku – pronounced sun doe coo – is a Japanese expression meaning “leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piled up together with other unread books.” The word literally means reading pile. Someone by the name of Sanders said, “the Tsundoku scale can range from just one unread book to a serious hoard.”

Now can you say you practice it? 🙂 I definitely can! First, let me make it clear here that I am not a hoarder of books, I am a collector of books. There is a difference … right?

I have come to the conclusion that buying books and reading them are actually two entirely different hobbies. – Unknown

My reading pile consists of not only hard copies, (in the low hundreds) but it extends to e-books, and also audio books. So, yes, I have hundreds of unread books! Should I be ashamed of that? Well, maybe, but I prefer to embrace the fact that I have found books I am looking forward to reading, albeit many of those will be in the far-off future simply because of the quantity of them. Anyway … isn’t tsundoku a pretty word? 🙂

That is why I am happy to be participating in reading challenges — because I have so many of my own books to read that I can fill almost all of the prompts with them. I do still borrow the occasional novel from the library, because I have lists in my library account of the hundreds of books low thousands of books I want to read. I just can’t help myself!

As usual, on my “Books I’ve read in [whatever year]” page here on my blog, I keep track of the books I’ve read each year. There you can see I continue to read many picture books. It’s a record I keep for myself and for anyone who might be interested.

Now it’s your turn to share.

Do you practice tsundoku? Or, do you have lists of books you hope to borrow or buy to read? Are you participating in any reading challenges?

Thanks for reading, and blessings on your day! Let’s keep in touch.

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