ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Tsundoku is a Japanese word for the literary affliction of buying books you don’t read.
Glenn Whittaker, a South Betoota TAFE English Literature student, has a bad case of the Tsundokus.
Taking time out of his busy Saturday morning of picking cannabis out of the carpet to ward off his hangover, the 23-year-old wandered into his local independent bookseller to have a gander.
However, he knows that whatever he ends up buying, it’ll just end up on his bookshelf untouched.
Almost every book that’s currently sitting on his desk, nightstand and bookshelf has a crinkle-less spine and a lack of dog-eared pages.
“He’s only hurting himself in the end,” said one of his lecturers.
“It’s hard to get a good read on Pynchon or Palahniuk from a SparkNotes summary. It’ll get you through a course but if that’s what you’re aiming at getting out of it, then why do it?
“It’s not like this diploma has any tangible employment benefits.”
But Whittaker was quick to hit back at his critics.
Telling The Advocate over a milky coffee at his favourite cafe slash bookshop, the typical Virgo scoffed and rolled his eyes through out the interview whenever his love of reading was questioned by our reporter.
“Ah, excuse me. I’ve been an avid reader my whole life,” he said.
“Cut my teeth on J. K. Rowling before I move onto more academic and challenging books, like the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. Have you even heard of that? I didn’t think so,”
“Hunter S. Thompson is my favourite writer. The movies they make of his books are cheap and tacky. I bet you’ve never read the Rum Diary but you saw the film? Yeah, it’s not a film, it’s a movie!”
More to come.
