Reading, for me, is entertainment and an escape from the real world. But it can also inform and stretch the boundaries of the life I live.
I forgot to mention the happy surprise I found tucked into my copy of The Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham! It's just a promotional paper bookmark for a now-defunct local bookstore chain that revolutionized bookselling in the 1980's, before it was (ironically) run out of business by the big box stores like Borders. But I love bookmarks, and this is a fun little piece of local history.