Stories are not merely extras in our life. They are vital nourishment in the process of becoming fully human. I remember many books I read in childhood such as The Secret Garden, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland. These books, among others, started me on the road to becoming human and I am awed and grateful.
Some people think that reading stories is a way to kill time. But books show me ways of being, ways of doing, ways of dealing with people, situations and problems that I could never have thought up on my own. I am not killing time; I am trying to understand life.:)>-