Quotes, pt 2 - why I read

More quotes from my collection, this batch about the value of stories.

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading. – William Styron

Through a well-told story, I can live vicariously in another era, in another culture, or in an alternate universe. I can inhabit the experiences of a hero or villain, of a frail old man, an anxious teen-age girl, or a struggling single parent. These experiences have increased my empathy toward people whose lives are different from my own.

After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in this world. – Philip Pullman

Maybe that's why, throughout human history, stories were told wherever people gathered. Your Thanksgiving table has hosted a tale or two, I'm sure.

In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you. -Mortimer J. Adler

Here's what's gotten through to me in hundreds of books - a story would be boring if there were no struggle, no risk-taking, no effort needed to reach success. Who wants to read about someone who has it easy all the time?
I've learned that the same holds true with life. It's the problems we face and the fact that we overcome them that gives us hope and forces us to grow and eventually succeed.


So here's the last word on the subject.

Let us read and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.
-Voltaire