The definition of a book ‘hoarder’ is: Bibliomaniac a person characterized as one who is obsessed with books, so much so that they will go to extreme measures to obtain the books they want. Often bibliomaniacs will have multiple copies of the same book in different editions and varying conditions.

This last explanation ‘multiple copies of different editions of the same book’, is possibly the crucial part of the definition of a book hoarder. However, if you have single editions of a book, is it then NOT hoarding, but a lover of books? On the other hand, a Bochord – is an old English word for a library, literally means “book hoard”. So, I put to all you lovely people, the gathering of books is to love them, in order to read them, and ultimately create our own library!

There is also the laughable expression – buyer of too many books – I know you will join me in an expletive on that specific expression. The word to describe the ‘stockpiling’ books is “tsundoku” with the rider, ‘that will never be consumed’. Now, the argument here is, when we buy them we have every intention of reading them, so we can not in all good faith, say we will not read them. Right?

The word tsundoku itself is a combination of several Japanese words, including “tsunde,” which means to stack things; “oku,” which means to leave for a while; and “doku,” which means to read. So, I rest my case, we buy, we stack, we collect, we keep, we read, we love.

What are your thoughts? Hoarder or lover?