What is tsundoku?

A reading tracker collapses the two. “Want to read”, “currently reading”, and “read” describe your attention, not your furniture. A physical shelf is the opposite problem: the book is in the house, and you may or may not have opened it. The unread owned pile is the number that surprises people.

Possession in Hondana is owned or want. Reading is unread, reading, or completed. Owned plus unread is the tsundoku pile. Want plus unread is a list of books you do not have yet. Completed can sit on either, including a series you finished from the library and would still like to own.

The split is also what a public shelf is allowed to show. Counts and covers can be public. Notes and the date you bought a book stay private, because the pile is yours and the receipt is not the point.