A friend shared this essay by Rosemarie Urquico. I find it interesting so I am sharing it with all of you!!!
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.
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’sUlysses 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 understand that all things will come to end. That 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 Twilightseries.
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.
photos from google images
PaoDal
February 15, 2013 at 11:40 pm (8 years ago)Thank you for sharing this! Girls who read and write are definitely rare nowadays. Through this post of yours, i’ve gotten to realize and appreciate that the one I just dated is one of them, and I would like to go out on another date with her even more.. 🙂
Audrey
February 16, 2013 at 2:48 am (8 years ago)Good for you Pao! 🙂 Thanks for dropping by my blog… 🙂
jajamochi
February 17, 2013 at 4:22 am (8 years ago)Reblogged this on Jaunting Along Allusions and commented:
🙂
cillefernando
May 2, 2013 at 12:17 pm (8 years ago)Reblogged this on cillefernando.
Odette Juanzon
May 10, 2013 at 11:43 am (8 years ago)Reblogged this on The wallflower and commented:
<3
Liz
May 19, 2013 at 2:29 pm (8 years ago)This is a bland and unimaginative response to “Date a Girl Who Doesn’t Read.” Google that one, its WAY better.
Adam Black
May 22, 2013 at 3:43 pm (8 years ago)I have realized, thanks to your article, that my dad did exactly that. He dated and then married a woman who reads and writes. My mother told me that for her english class in HS she wrote and directed a play. If that doesn’t qualify I don’t know what does.
Audrey
May 23, 2013 at 12:28 am (8 years ago)Wow! Your mom must be really smart, skillful and creative to be able to direct a school play! 🙂
Karen
October 6, 2013 at 12:15 am (7 years ago)This is a blatant rip off of Charles Warnke’s work, which is so much better.
http://sean.terretta.com/dont-date-a-girl-who-reads-charles-warnke
kathleenneubert
October 8, 2013 at 11:18 pm (7 years ago)Reblogged this on Randomness.
Leah
October 16, 2013 at 3:36 am (7 years ago)Some women actually *have* read and understood Ulysses. It’s one of my favorites, mainly because every time I come back to it, I find something new that I didn’t see the first few times around. Give female readers some credit!!
Coryn
November 12, 2013 at 2:44 am (7 years ago)I loved this! Thank you for posting! It’s so true! When I read, I cry, laugh, and everything in between. I’m the only one in my family who does this, so I’m glad I’m not the only one out there. 🙂
Audrey
November 12, 2013 at 3:28 am (7 years ago)Haha! I was smiling as I read your comment… Thank you Coryn! 🙂
Kate Brombley
November 15, 2013 at 7:53 am (7 years ago)Have you seen Mark Grist perform his poem on this topic? It’s really good!
http://youtu.be/rWwXJT4LA5A
fly with me
November 26, 2013 at 7:48 am (7 years ago)Reblogged this on rose-tinted bits and commented:
Came across this interestingly beautiful piece and thought I might share. To all the readers in the world 🙂
Audrey
December 22, 2013 at 5:02 am (7 years ago)Thank you for sharing! 🙂
missfayelee
May 21, 2014 at 12:26 pm (7 years ago)Reblogged this on Cannot Be Unseen.