Some say we read fiction to escape but I always feel like I'm digging deeper into reality.
Robert McKee has a great take on it:
". . . fictional reality illuminates our daily reality. We do not wish to escape life but to find life, to use our minds in fresh, experimental ways, to flex our emotions, to enjoy, to learn, to add depth to our days.
 . . . Story  isn't a flight from reality but a vehicle that carries us on our search for reality, our best effort to make sense out of the anarchy of existence." 
                                                    -- from Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting
                                                                  by Robert McKee