It’s that the benefits of reading extend beyond a mere escape from oneself. They linger. Reading affords one a certain detachment from life. Reading allows me, at least, to approach the events of my own life with the same mild curiosity I have toward a good novel: it’s easier not to get so invested. One could argue that film and television must do the same, but in truth, there is something different between the mediums. Books – texts – are private, personal, unique. They’re fueled and informed by whatever you’ve already experienced. Movies are public. They give everything to you. Also, television and film are almost always (and necessarily) presented from a limited third-person point of view: the nature of the stated objectivity of the camera makes anything else difficult. Books can be written from the inside, or from all sides – you get a taste of what it’s like to experience the world through the eyes and skin and past of another.

–Siona, Nomen Est Numen