Date a girl who reads by Rosemarie Urquico

“You should date a girl who reads

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends
her money on books instead of clothes. She has
problems with closet space because she has too
many books. Date a girl who has a list of books
she wants to read, who has had a library card
since she was twelve.

 
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does
because she will always have an unread book in
her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the
shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly
cries out when she finds the book she wants.
You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an
old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the
reader. They can never resist smelling the
pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that
coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek
at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating
on top because she’s kind of engrossed already.
Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit
down. She might give you a glare, as most girls
who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her
if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of
Murakami. See if she got through the first
chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she
says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s
just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if
she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her

books for her birthday, for Christmas and for
anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in
poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound,
Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you
understand that words are love. Understand
that she knows the difference between books
and reality but by god, she’s going to try to
make her life a little like her favorite book. It
will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will
understand your need to lie. Behind words are
other things: motivation, value, nuance,
dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.
Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that
failure always leads up to the climax. Because
girls who read understand that all things will come
to end, but you can always write a sequel. That
you can begin again and again and still be the
hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.
Why be frightened of everything that you are
not? Girls who read understand that people,
like characters, develop. Except in
the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close.
When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book
to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of
tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple
of hours but she will always come back to you.
She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are
real, because for a while, they always are.
You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during
a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s
sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why
your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over
your chest yet. You will write the story of your
lives, have kids with strange names and even
stranger tastes. She will introduce your
children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe
in the same day. You will walk the winters of
your old age together and she will recite Keats
under her breath while you shake the snow off
your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it.

You deserve a girl who can give you the most
colorful life imaginable. If you can only give
her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked
proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you
want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a
girl who reads.
Or better yet, date a girl who writes.