A way that i love to look at dreams is as our second life- since we waste MORE THAN 5 YEARS sleeping, i find it dillusional to just see it as *resting*. I prefer the term "the other crazy world" cause everything comes and goes whenever, whatever. Try to see them as true, and it can get fun to think about =).
Dreams are a fantastic and daring thing to think about because we don't know what they are capable of doing- warning us of danger in the future, seeing something we may have missed, scare the shit out of us, or be so soothing that we wake up and feel like our problems are all gone. Some of those dream interpreting books can be a load of shit, or simply someone else's interpretations, so it's important to try to keep track, a journal or whatnot, of your dreams and try to make them out yourself- not go look at the index under page 256.
Personally, i've had all sorts of dreams. I've had dreams that change my mood and way of thought for some days, and i've had two that have seen the future. I was practially paralyzed when they came true because i had never seen or thought of something like what happened. And the scary part is that it was *all* true. I know that my unconsciousness wasn't influenced by anything tho. Many dreams are brought about because of things we see- a movie, or a dramatic situation- or things we eat. Our unconsiousness can pick up the smallest things, so when you try to interpret your dream, try to re-live 1 or two days ago to see if any was picked up from there. Watch out for colors and numbers- Those you can look for info about their meanings because it is less varied and the meanings are more guaranteed.