In the text book, we may have a sea of information of geogrophy, biology, or history. These knowledge help us to know perfectly about our planet and humanbeing. However, the knowledge of textbooks is limited. For instance, we cannot find any information about social situation or real livies of modern people in textbooks. On the contrary, fictions, which includes short stories and novels and so on, may help us to have a better understanding of life.
First of all, reading fictions help us know lives of past. Some might argue that fictions are based on imagination of authors, therefore they are fictitious and virtual. But to be frank, I think many characteristics of roles in fictions are derived from real personalities of the author's friends or family. It is said that Cao xueqin, the author of The Story Of The Stone, wrote his real story in the fiction by faking his name as Jia baoyu. And other characters are come from his family. This fiction reveals the unknowned and secrete story of Qing Dynasty and tells us the real life of different class in Qing Dynasty.
Second, fictions teaches us