My grandmother worked for many years at Cokesbury... and her Christmas and birthday gifts to me were almost always books. I faithfully participated in the summer reading program at our local library for years (and I have the certificates to prove it).
Books are like friends to me.
Here's an interesting take on reading. I've heard that the average author takes about two years to write a book. So each book we read is like getting two years of life experience. So when I read 150 books in a year, I'm gaining 300 years of life experience!