Stories help us connect. Yes, they take us out of our comfort zone - out of our own world - and allow us to see things through other people's eyes. But they also open us up to the values and feelings we share as human beings, establishing a kind of spiritual kinship between reader and subject.
The stories in T. J. Banks's The Twice-Given Gift & Other Writings help us make that connection. These deeply personal accounts of the Australian bush fires, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's lying-in-state, artists and writers working at their craft, HIV/AIDS and animal-welfare activists, and so much more will stay with you long afterwards, broadening your compassion and understanding.