Value of Novel Reading

Reading novels is a great way to get a kid's imagination started and can actually help them become more creative ( and also help their grammar along the way ). I've always been fond of reading novels, more so non-fiction than fiction, but it always helps calm me down and gets me own imagination going ( which is good because i'm not that creative ). Nancy Drew was my favorite series of non-fiction books to read because the main character was this beautiful strawberry-blonde haired girl who was skinny and smart. She loved mysteries and always played the detective in her stories when something begins to puzzle her. All in all, I think reading novels is a great way to unwind and relax and just forget about the real world for just a little bit.
Older novels that explain in great detail the ways of living and how no woman would have never "done this" or how a man would always act "this way" around a lady. Just like the book the "Scarlett Letter". The story was mainly of a woman who commited adultery without being married, and had a child. Back then, people were scared of doing such a thing as to avoid personal embarassment. Now in these days, nobody really cares except for if you are able to take care of the baby. But those days are over, there's no proper way of living anymore in these years. It's just about covering up your body with clothes and going to work. No need to think about how you're walking or how you should hold your umbrella anymore. Today, television news takes over for what our society focuses most of their attention on. I mean of course there are books out there that will teach us how to properly speak, properly write, or how to eat at a fancy dining restaurant, but then there's also google that can help us with that.
I think alot of historical novels help us see ourselves in a way that we didn't want to percieve ourselves. We don't want to think about how we are just savage beasts who want their way and will kill in order to get to our goal. Some novels do do that and I love those because it then opens our eyes to our behavior and how we are not as perfect as we think.
Literature, in these days, I don't think can move a society to change, unless it was a book written by someone of higher power and status than us. Unfortuantely at the moment, I can not think of any novels that may have changed my life or the way I view society. I can only think of the stories that I have read which have helped me change the way I act. "The Tortosie and the Hare" being one of them. I was always a girl who wanted things done as fast as possible, but when I slowed down and payed extra attention to the small details, I realized that being fast doesn't always mean it's better. I know I will think of more examples later, but for now, that is all I have to say :).