Elizabeth Hazen Shares Her Tsundoku (Poetry books to Read)
In a new blog post, Elizabeth Hazen shares her tsundoku. Tsundoku is a Japanese word meaning "Acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them."
For Christmas, which seems like three lifetimes ago, my parents gave my husband a book of interesting words from around the world*. An engineer who has a soft spot for spoonerisms, puns, and wordplay in every form, he found instant delight in this book. Did you know that Germans have a word for the weight we gain from stress-eating? Kummerspeck. Or that the Scots have a word for that awkward pause when you’ve forgotten the name of the person you’re introducing? Tartle. Among my favorites are the whimsical Swedish smultronställe, a place of wild strawberries; the romantic Italian dormiveglia, the space between sleeping and waking; and the essential Japanese tsundoku, that pile of unread books on my bedside table that grows with each passing month.
Needless to say, I took that book of words from my husband, adding one more to my stack...
Joanna Revisits Greece in her New Blog Entry
Joanna Biggar discusses the experience of revisiting a place in her newest blog entry, and debuts a poem in the shadow of the women’s march.
Linda Watanabe McFerrin Talks Travel and Literature on KCBX
In this interview for NPR affiliate KCBX, Linda Watanabe McFerrin discusses travel, literature, and her new book “Navigating the Divide.”
Reuben Jackson Talks “Old DC” on the DC Library Podcast
ON TUESDAY the writer of 2019’s Scattered Clouds and archivist at UDC’s Felix E. Grant Jazz archives, Reuben Jackson, stopped in for a chat with the DC Public Library’s radio podcast.