"The best writing--whether 'realistic' or 'fantasy'--tends to involve us in life more deeply. This may be another mark of excellence in writing as opposed to the racks and racks of lurid romances, formula science fiction, predictable thrillers, and breathless fantasies of wealth, sex, and power that clutter up the drugstores and bestseller lists. Good literature may give us escape, but it also brings us back, rearmed with insight for our everyday experiences and with a new appreciation for the texture of actual life. Bad literature makes us despise our lives, wishing we could be like the fictional people we read about and causing us to regard ordinary living as boring. Good literature makes us understand and appreciate our lives, opening our eyes to the drama and significance of the story we are living."

Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines