Thoughts on reading

I've been mulling over this for the last week or so - since I read the Lois McMaster Bujold on my 'non-comfort-reading' experiment.  I liked the characters, I liked the plot, I liked the writing, yet I still found it hard work.  By contrast, I've read some appallingly written books in the past, that I've still managed to quite enjoy. 

So I've been thinking about what things make the reading experience fun for me, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm completely shallow in this.  I like to read books in which people wear beautiful clothes, have comfortable houses, and wander round delightful gardens and wonderful countryside.  Historical fiction (even if bad) generally fulfils all of these requirements and SF (even if good) generally has none of them.  I like to enter into a world that I think would be fun and enjoyable, where I could do the kinds of thing I like - curl up on the sofa with a good book and a bar of chocolate, or pick up my knitting, or go out for dinner.  This is, I think, one reason why I enjoyed HP so much.  It just felt like a place you'd want to spend time browsing the shops in Diagon Alley, or going for lunch at the Burrow.  Whereas a spaceship strikes me as a place shorn of all the things that make life bearable.  So I don't much want to hang out in one, even for the course of a novel.

What about you?  What are the pleasures of reading for you?