I sent a friend and colleague the quote below. It comes from this article about Lois Lowry.

Though she often reads to understand the past, Lowry has long thought of reading as a way to rehearse for the future. She remembers lying in bed with her mother reading The Yearling and crying when the protagonist’s best friend died. “I was preparing myself for losses I would face later in my life, griefs I would undergo,” she said. 

She wrote back quickly: what a beautifully put why for reading!