In ‘what reading slowly taught me about writing’ the speaker Jacqueline Woodson speaks about her relationship with books. As she goes in depth she explains her many reasons for reading. When she says ” we read to get lost,  to forget the hard times were living in” it resonated with me on a deeper level. Sometimes life gets too chaotic and you want to distract yourself from reality. Times like that is when I want to pick up a book and indulge myself in it. Fiction is my favorite genre and when you can place yourself in a fantasy you forget the hard times that you’re going through in your actual life and it’s a beautiful Escape. Often times even the fictional characters are going through something as well so it’s easier to focus on another persons problems rather than yours and if that person is fiction there’s no consequences in focusing on theirs. This is important to me because in my younger years I read books often I had a lot of free time and they were my way of leaving the house without actually going outside. Not only that but my mom loved that I was reading so if I was enjoying myself and she was happy that I was safe inside there were no conflict. Now I don’t have that much time to read but when Jacqueline said that it made me reminisce and remember the times when books were my only way of going outside. Unfortunately now I don’t read as many books but it is a goal for me that when I graduate college I continue to read books as a hobby. Hopefully I have more free time and a practice being alone with myself instead of going outside as much as I do now.