Reading - the great escape

Sara Nelson in her book So many books, so little time

"A friend of mine tells me that he likes to listen to tapes of Trollope novels while negotiating New York City traffic because he likes the clash of his inner and outer worlds: 'The lovely British voice on the tape is saying, "And the vicar went into the parish," just as I'm yelling in my best New Yorkese, "Hey Buddy, up yours!" to the cabdriver on my right.' Reading's ability to beam you up to a different world is a good part of the reason people like me do it in the first place -- because dollar for dollar, hour per hour, it's the most expedient way to get from our proscribed little 'here' to an imagined, intriguing 'there.' Part time machine, part Concorde, part ejector seat, books are our salvation."

books, reading, library