oh.yes.

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'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 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 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.
--Rosemarie Urquico