Liking novels doesn't mean you'd like to live with the characters

Her mother likes to say that novels have ruined Amelia for real men. This observation insults Amelia because it implies that she only reads books with classically romantic heroes. She does not mind the occasional novel with a romantic hero but her reading tastes are far more varied than that. Furthermore, she adores Humbert Humbert as a character while accepting the fact that she wouldn't really want him for a life partner, a boyfriend, or even a casual acquaintance. She feels the same way about Holden Caulfield, and Misters Rochester and Darcy.

Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2014), p. 8