Opening a book is a magical thing. Worlds wait for us, unknown landscapes appear in our minds as we read, and the characters who show up inevitably create emotional responses in us. Our reactions and feelings can run the gamut from delight and intrigue to fear and wonder. Whether the book we’ve chosen is adventure or science fiction or fantasy or mystery, it gives us a feeling of possibility we didn’t know existed before. This is the power in reading fiction.

The hours we spend immersed in a book, or the forty-five minutes we spend with a short story, or even the five minutes we give to a poem–all of it is time that instills a feeling of respite in us, a chance to let go of our hectic lives.

Some say the love of reading begins in childhood, and maybe that’s true for most of us. But in truth, we might not find out how reading can touch