*Why Do You Read?

It's raining and cool today, a perfect reading day, and I could finish A Reliable Wife. Yet I considered leaving off where I was and not going back to it and that made me think about why I read.

This is a beautifully written book and I'll say more about that another time. But around 2/3 of the way through, it was so utterly sad that I wondered if the book would descend into that sadness and into despair and end there.

You see, in thinking about it, I realize that I read fiction for hope that...