Why do I like to read?

I am often asked by my friends, "Why do you like to read?" They see me carrying around a new book every week or two, wanting to tell them about this newest, and greatest world I a am a part of. It really is a new world through each and every book; the characters embrace you as one of their own and tell you their every thought and feeling. You become the main character, even if it's not written in first person. I still don't have a true answer for my friends besides, "I just enjoy it." In seventh grade, I was reading First Born by Doris Mortman. This book switched through different point of views for four women. I was truly enveloped in one of the women's story during lunch when she saw her husband's plane crash that just took off. She was holding their very young daughter as they both saw Daddy's plane blow up in mid air. She had tears streaming my face. I felt one of my friends shaking me and asking me what's wrong; I hadn't noticed the tears streaming down my face. I was still so choked up that I couldn't answer at all, and I had to go to the bathroom to collect myself. I'm still like that. Though I haven't yet found another book that has made me cry, I still have to pause a few moments and take a breather. The story doesn't end just because the book did. It still caresses you and you're left thinking like the characters. I like the feeling of becoming someone else and escaping my own problems. Sometimes these characters have the opportunity to go somewhere or do something that you will never be able to do in real life. It's a heaven.