Why do we read?

I just finished a great book and am freshly reminded of the thrill from diving into a story and letting it move you, letting yourself care about the people and their world. But aside from the sheer pleasure of reading,  I feel like it also enhances my understanding of God, myself, people and places. Reading gives me a fuller and more examined life.

Here are some quotes from other authors about what reading gave to them:

“We read to know we are not alone.”

-C.S. Lewis

When I look back, I am so impressed again
with the life-giving power of literature.
If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of
myself in the world, I would do that again by reading,
just as I did when I was young.
~ Maya Angelou ~

Books are standing counselors and preachers, always at hand,
and always disinterested; having this advantage over oral instructors,
that they are ready to repeat their lesson as often as we please.
~ Oswald Chambers ~

All good books are alike in that they are truer
than if they had really happened
and after you are finished reading one
you will feel that all that happened
to you and afterwards it all belongs to you;
the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse,
and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was.
~ Ernest Hemingway ~

What about you, what does reading give to you?