If we still persist in reading literature in our era, it is because we believe in what it offers us. We will never be able to change the world with poetry and novels, but it is worth trying their beneficial impact on our lives and character. If someone asked me how literature can change my life, I would answer that literature mainly teaches you ways. It makes you less certain about yourself, less melodramatic and sensational, less naive and gullible, but also more noble in language, more insightful in human relationships.
In life, things are usually not as they seem, and literature will always be here to remind us of that.