Why do people read what they do?

Book Live, which was BookSA, has been full of debates on how books are reviewed and what we should be reading, writing or doing with books. I have weighed in from time to time, for better or for worse. But in the back of mind during these discussions, which sometimes reach dizzily lofty heights, lurks the various reasons of why people read books. It isn't always for the pleasure of a work of art. Not that I am advocating for books like the cira 1980s Mills & Boon I read a few months back that had a '!' in every...