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Date A Girl Who Reads

I saved this the first time I heard it – a fun piece by Rosemarie Urquico. Enjoy!

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 read 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.

177 thoughts on “Date A Girl Who Reads”

  1. Date A Girl Who Reads | Inner Ramblings: says:
    November 16, 2015 at 9:05 pm

    […] Source: Date A Girl Who Reads […]

    Liked by 1 person

  2. fakhiraaziz84 says:
    September 18, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    I love it. Mesmerised… I read… I read a lot … And i wanna be loved by someone who wants to date a reader… Wohhhh… Where is that man…. Awesome awesome piece

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Jack Ronald Cotner says:
    September 8, 2015 at 12:41 am

    Sounds like my kind of lady. Reading is for the intelligent. And intelligent is, dare I say, sexy.

    Liked by 1 person

    • D. Wallace Peach says:
      September 8, 2015 at 3:52 am

      Ha ha. There are other men who’ve commented on this post who would agree with you. Never a dull moment, Jack. I can’t remember the last time I was bored. Who can possibly be bored with a world of books. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  4. A @ moylomenterprises says:
    September 6, 2015 at 9:56 pm

    How brilliant! I love this. Must save to read again. Thanks for sharing. Hope you’re having a lovely day 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Joseph Rubin says:
    August 19, 2015 at 12:02 am

    Diana Peach,

    The theme of the girl who reads, and the paintings that say a thousand words, are outstanding! I find myself in a “different world” after a relatively mundane day.

    I imagine the above on the walls of a fine arts museum, and the people in their dreamy clouds standing all around.

    Liked by 3 people

  6. macjam47 says:
    August 18, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    Love this. Shared on social media.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Sarah's Attic of Treasures says:
    August 18, 2015 at 12:21 am

    Reblogged this on Sarah's Attic Of Treasures and commented:
    I am that girl or was. I had a huge house filled with bookcases and stacks of books. Thousands and thousands of them. I could have opened a used book store.
    Now I read online…..
    I first got my library card when I went to the library with my dad. I wanted to know why he could have one and I couldn’t. I remember saying “I took care of them….Didn’t ruin them. ” I also told my dad that I remembered we had to return them before the weekend. Ilso reminded him, that he had forgotten. (It was written on the calendar.) There was also a sticker of a book.
    The librarian told me I was too young. Then she thought about it and decided I was the exception. (She also knew my parents would make sure I would always follow through). I walked out the door with a library card ….With my name on it. I was 6 or 7. Now a days many libraries libraries will add a child on their parent’s account. It teaches responsibility .
    I also love the pictures here. First posted by Rosemarie Urquico. Then shared by Myths Of The Mirror and then I saw it on Marquessa’s Blog.
    I do miss reading a BOOK. Reading online is NOT the same thing.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Redneck_Goth says:
    August 17, 2015 at 1:56 pm

    Reblogged this on Crazy Little Redneck Goth.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Eric Klingenberg says:
    August 17, 2015 at 10:10 am

    I married a girl who reads

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Léa says:
    August 17, 2015 at 9:37 am

    Mais oui! Alas, many of us read and write… 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life. says:
    August 17, 2015 at 8:24 am

    Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
    Love it Diana.. a great guide to love and romance for any young man or woman.. I was lucky the second time around to marry a guy who loves books as much as I do..

    Liked by 3 people

  12. Marquessa says:
    August 16, 2015 at 9:43 pm

    Reblogged this on Simply Marquessa and commented:
    Oh soooo reblog worthy!

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Mr. Militant Negro says:
    August 16, 2015 at 9:33 pm

    Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.

    Liked by 2 people

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