BASH scripting

sup
i'm using "read" to get a directory path into an env variable.
shit works well when the path doesn't contain an escape command for whitespaces like here:
/home/durp/pics/test_folder/
this here makes problems:
/home/durp/pics/test\ folder/
"read" simply ignores the escape command, but i need it. how do i circumvent that?

>>33
because /bin/sh is available everywhere. only faggots have bash installed.