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Quote by Sam Jordison

“The to-read pile is more than just a physical stack of books: it's a tower of ambitions failed, hopes unrealised, good intentions unfulfilled. Worse still, it's a cold hard reminder of mortality. Already, I have intentions to read more books than I can hope to manage in a normal lifetime. How will this pile of books taunt me when I'm 64?”

Quote by Sam Jordison

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Sam Jordison

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“Organizing the books was a fun afternoon. We decided to put the thick hardback books, mostly intro. to philosophy textbooks and Norton literature anthologies, on the top shelves where they looked good but stayed out of reach since there's no reason for opening them ever again. Then we went by genre: mysteries, cozies, modernists, mountains, sci-fi, beloved childhood volumes, books we bought abroad, books required in school we couldn't sell back, books bought for us we'll read soon, books bought for us we have no intention of reading, books we want to read but are too long for a commitment with our current schedules...We're not really done with this organization, and I doubt we ever will be, but that's one great part about it.”

MarriageLibraryTsundokuBiblioholicMingled Libraries
Book:Conquistador of the Useless
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“Tsundoku (Japanese) Buying books and not reading them; letting books pile up on shelves or floors or nightstands. My parents used to joke about making furniture out of them; instead of being coffee table books, they could be the coffee table. Ditto on nightstands, counters, roofs. When we were kids, my brother and I, teased about always reading, built a wall. Right through the middle of the neighborhood, protected ourselves with fiction and with facts. I loved the encyclopedias best; the weight of them, how my grandmother made me walk with one on my head to practice being a lady. It wasn’t until college that I built a grand stairway out of them; their glossy blue jackets looked like marble in the moonlight. I climbed it, to the top of the wall. Peering over, I found you, on the other side, alone in your bed, asleep. That was the first time you dreamed me. In your dream, you told me not to jump. But to be patient. (We were young then, it would be years before we’d meet) and then this morning, I found you in my bedroom. In your hands, How to Rope and Tie a Steer, a mug of coffee, a piece of slightly burned toast. I took The Sun Also Rises from the wall, made the first window into your heart.”

LoveReadingBooksTsundoku
Book:Untranslatable
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“Flo n'avait pas l'air conditionné, c'était trop cher, en revanche elle avait beaucoup de livres. Ses étagères en étaient remplies, il n'y restait plus un centimètre libre. Les voir la rassurait et la calmait. Elle en avait lu une majorité, mais il y en avait encore beaucoup à lire, ce qui suscitait chez elle une certaine excitation et lui évoquait un de ses mots préférés en japonais, tsundoku – un terme sans équivalent dans d'autres langues : acheter des livres et les entasser sur une étagère sans les lire.”

LanguageBook LoversJapaneseQuote In FrenchTsundoku
Book:The Cat and The City
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“किताबों से कभी गुजरो तो यूँ किरदार मिलते हैं, गए वक्तों की ड्योढ़ी में खड़े कुछ यार मिलते हैं, जिसे हम दिल का वीराना समझकर छोड़ आये थे, वहाँ उजड़े हुए शहरों के कुछ आसार मिलते हैं !!”

Hindi PoetryGulzar
Author:गुलज़ार Gulzar
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“You are not wrong," Laurence said. He had assumed as much himself, after all, in his Navy days: had thought the Corps full of wild, devil-may-care libertines, disregarding law and authority as far as they dared, barely kept in check-- to be used for their control over the beasts, and not respected. "But if we have more liberty than we ought," Laurence said, after a moment, struggling through, "it is because they have not enough: the dragons. They have no stake in victory but our happiness; their daily bread and nation would give them just to have peace and quiet. We are given licence so long as we do what we ought not; so long as we use their affections to keep them obedient and quiet, to ends which serve them not at all-- or which harm." "How else do you make them care?" Granby said. "If we left off, the French would only run right over us, and take our eggs themselves." "They care in China," Laurence said, "and in Africa, and they care all the more, that their rational sense is not imposed on, and their hearts put into opposition with their minds. If they cannot be woken to a natural affection for their country, such as we feel, it is our fault, and not theirs.”

InspirationalDragonsTemeraire
Book:Victory of Eagles
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