I think I can say I read a lot. I definetly read every day.
I used to complain when my brother was completely engrossed in a book instead of playing with me and my siblings.
Well, after I learned how to read, I stopped complaining. I took reading to another level.
My mom loves reading, and we have a whooping count of about 800 books at home, from childrens books over science books to novels etc. (I’ve been living alone for almost two years now and I gathered about 200 books)
I read everything I could get my hands on. My mom restricted me from the more grown up books, so I read he allowed books (which were still a lot) double and more.
I read all my schoolbooks. Regardless what they were about, or if we even needed them. I read my older siblings schoolbooks. I read cook books, movie descriptions in the tv magazine, book summaries in the reader magazine my mom got. I read the telephone book.
I sat next to my mom/siblings when they played pc games, just to look up from my book whenever the story was continued, to read the text that showed on display, and then to return to my book.
I read the text on the cheese wrapping or the milk bottle EVERY SINGLE TIME I sat down to eat.
I read all kinds of books, magazines, comics and mangas.
The day when I stumbled over the wonder that is fanfiction, is a blessed one.
I watch movies in the original language and read the subtitles. I read the lyrics and the translation to every song that I like. I read posters and placats and banners. I read quora questions/answers, tumblr posts, twitter threads, youtube comments, scripts.
I didn’t read the google privacy policy.
But I read the bible.
I read in class, I’m reading at work, I’m reading in my free time
I read approximately about 800 books and 1200 fanfiction anywhere from 1,000 words to 500,000 words.
So, yes, I read a lot. Now, what happened/will happen from all that reading?
- You get a very large vocabulary.
- You use words that nobody else knows/uses anymore because they’re either outdated or very specific.
- very clean grammar
- When asked why you write/use something (words or grammar rules) like that, it’s because “it looks/feel right“
- You pick up a load of either random facts or specific knowledge in books.
- People think you’re a nerd/very smart. It’s probably true.
- Your fantasy and creativity will grow
- Your reading speed will increase
- You will make a quote and people won’t get it
- But if they do you have a nice conversation already set up and ready to go
- You will get strange looks because you forgot/don’t care you’re in public and laughed because of something in the book
- People want to know why you’re laughing and you answer with “you wouldn’t understand“
- You end up explaining it anyways, and they look at you confused and go “that wasn’t funny“
- And your’re just like: I TOLD YOU SO!
- You forget that “it’s just a book“ and you live in there and you will laugh and cry and love and hate and get passionate about it
- Your favourite character will die
- You learn a lot of ways to murder someone or rob any establishment
- The book will end and you will want more
- You will hate a book
- You will love a book
- You will feels the immense need to slap the living shit out of a character
- Or you really want to hug a character
- You will probably fall in love with a character
- People will nag you to “go outside, the weather is so great“
More specific stuff that happened to me:
- If I forgot how a word is written I close my eyes and write it without thinking about it. Since I have probably seen it a dozen times somewhere in the stuff that I’ve read, I unconsciously write it right from memory.
- Sometimes I write words with the old grammar rules, because the books I read are old. Example (for german): Photographie (old) and Fotografie (new)
- When I was 10/11 I read a lot of books at once, like 4–5 books and some magazines in between. I kinda spiralled out of control. My mind was always absent, I had trouble sleeping, I started sleepwalking. I lost a little the relation to reality.
- I can still recite the text on a classic milk bottle
- I know the word apple juice in 12 different languages
- I learned english mostly by reading. I learned the basics in school, but I kept reading texts and stories with my little dictionary next to me. Today I’m mostly fluent in english, I can understand 98% of every text I read, except really specific texts about science or business topics. At the age of 13/14 I actually made my own translation of “The Little Prince“ by Antoine DeSaint Exupery, because we only had an english version. A teacher gifted me the german version later.
- I write stories on my own, as well as my parents and my siblings. All of them like to read (not as excessive as me of course)
Now, I think what will happen if you read a book every day depends on the books you read. Reading a telephone book every day might not be the perfect way to go if you want to become smarter.
But, if you enjoy what you read, every moment spend in those worlds will always be a gift.