People get away from reality in many different fashions, mine being reading or jamming to music. but reading a book does some thing that music can't do. and that's tell you a story. Stories take you to places you never would have been able to get to otherwise.
You can easily picture yourself in the authors shoes going to the places they go, seeing the things they see, even smell things that they describe. its such a fascinating thing. there is nothing like reading books.
