Poet and essayist Gary Soto considers the senses while reading and the purpose of maintaining a reading life. According to the author, it's the pleasure of a story, and the intimacy of getting to know the characters well enough to exercise tenderness (or dislike) toward them. It's to weigh but not judge the behavior of characters, who are like ourselves except that they are in print and possibly immortal while we humans are flesh, thus very much mortal. Reading beckons, too. It's a worthwhile activity, the author states, as it gives pleasure, it makes us observant, it offers fresh uses of language, and it offers us vistas into people's lives.