What are some unexpected boons to reading which you did not know existed before you started reading?
For me, I always thought reading was a lonely endeavour. The most I could do was describe the fictional worlds I’ve been to with my family and friends (who mostly don’t read). However, recently I uncovered an entirely new aspect to reading which is so amazing to me. The fact that I can join specific subreddits for each new fictional universe I dive into is such a unique thing. When I started book one of the red rising series, I joined the red rising subreddit, but could not engage with posts with spoilers from future books. As I read more and more, I could engage with more and more posts/readers/content on the subreddit. Having just finished lightbringer, I am finally able to engage with all the posts without fear of spoilery and join in the excitement of discussing and waiting for the final book in the series, Red God! Right now I am looking for a new series to jump into, and the boon of joining a new subreddit community to go on this journey with just makes reading so much more fun.
Hence interested to know what are some unexpected boons you discovered while enjoying the hobby of reading?
by spartanyeo
6 Comments
one question, what is a boon.. I have never heard this term before damn (and I am an avid book reader too…)
I like IRL book clubs because, you know, people in real life are better than strangers on the internet.
I enjoy reddit discussions of books, but real life is where it’s at
I like being able to escape the pressures of everyday life, learning (I read a lot of historical fiction), developing empathy, and strengthening my ability to maintain focus on just 1 thing for an extended period of time.
I enjoy reading books translated into English from all around the world. For me, maybe because I’m kind of a language nerd, it’s fun to learn new words that I otherwise wouldn’t know. It’s also kind of fun to see colloquialisms used that are not common in English.
Another boon for me is probably learning about geography or culture in those translated books. For those cultural elements, I often fall into research mode. For example, I read a book a few years back that took place in Korea during the time of Japan’s occupation and not knowing much about that history, I was surprised by how much happened during that time.
Sometimes, I’ll google earth the locations from a book, and it brings an increased experience. Did my imagination develop the images to match the reality of a specific location? Makes it kind of fun.
I’m about a million times more articulate in both writing and speech when I’m reading regularly.
More empathy.