@indigo To me, they were an escape. I started reading very early - By age two. I loved that I could open one and suddenly be somewhere else for a while.
As for the older books as opposed to the newer..
The older seemed to have a life imbued to them from the hands that made this dog ear or that crease,
The McGuffey readers, for instance, were used in school by my great grandfather and had his notes and scribbles in them. It just made them seem alive to me.
Some other's were made by my great, great uncle Leotis and had his very ornate, almost calligraphic, handwriting in them. Some of his sketches, also. (I have a few of his paintings too. Very talented man. Would have loved to know him but he died a few years before I was born)
// @jextxadore