Reading - Travel Through Time and Space

Anne Tyler said "I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place". Exactly. I have neither the time nor the money - or the health - to travel through space and a time machine has not been invented (and will never be, if you ask me, but that's another subject).

But - I just open a book, and there I am. I can be in China in a minute, or in Australia, South America, any place in Europe, Africa, ... anywhere I want; I can be in the Victorian era by just turning a page. I can meet people I always wanted to meet, even if they have been dead for decades.

Oh, what a wonderful thing a book is. I can explore history, genealogy, geography, anything I want. I can dream of being Elizabeth Bennett despising Mr. Darcy, or Richard Burton travelling up the Nile, and if I read a book again, I can even try to convince the characters to make different choices, guide Lara and Dr. Zhivago to a different decision so they can all have a happy ending. Not that they would ever listen.