““The idea of being weighed down made me uneasy, as if I lived on the surface of a frozen lake and each new trapping of domestic life - a pot, a chair, a lamp - threatened to be the thing that sent me through the ice. The only exception was books, which I acquired freely, because I never really felt they belonged to me. Because of this, I never felt compelled to finish those I didn't like, or even a pressure to like them at all. But a certain lack of responsibility also left me free to be affected. When at last I came across the right book the feeling was violent: it blew open a hole in me that made life more dangerous because I couldn't control what came through it.””
![“[Books] were the world I could lose myself in when the one I was actually living in became too lonely or harsh or difficult to bear.” quote by Cheryl Strayed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/52e/cheryl-strayed-605_books_books-were-the-world-i-could-lose-myself_2993751.jpg)
![“[Books] were the world I could lose myself in when the one I was actually in became too lonely or harsh or difficult to bear.” quote by Cheryl Strayed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f8f/cheryl-strayed-605_book_books-were-the-world-i-could-lose-myself_724903.jpg)
