A GIRL YOU SHOULD DATE - Date a girl who reads...

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by pinkgeek

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 –
Original blog post here: http://nonamerah.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/869/

This is utterly fantastic and SO true of the "girl who reads". Thanks for posting.

[The_Lady_Snow]

I loved this and shared it on FB with my special girl... Thanks for sharing it here

[persiphone]

hahahahahaa @ "Except the Twilight series." and i'd wait at least 24 hours after Cat In The Hat to introduce Aslan. but spawn hasn't picked up Seuss since he was 4...well you know what he reads

i wonder what Pablo and Anne's children might have been like.

[Jess]

wonderful post, miss pinky.... and on this note...

[persiphone]

completely amazing

[pinkgeek]

Jess - thanks for sharing this. I recently read an article about the difference between educating women and men in developing countries and this video expresses it perfectly.

Money spent educating a women goes infinitely farther than that which is spent on men.. A woman will educate, care for and lift up her entire community when given the opportunity.. (Fact not supposition....)

Originally Posted by Jess

wonderful post, miss pinky.... and on this note...

[foxyshaman]

My father is the one who gave me my love of books. I remember being teased on the bus for reading above my grade level. (only to find out later the worst teaser/bully, she couldn't read). I constantly have at least three books on the go. I very rarely read fiction. Terry Windling and Ellen Datlow can change my mind on that tho'.

Reading and writing are my passions.

[pinkgeek]

I know!! (He's getting a trip to Barnes and Noble for Christmas with Auntie Pink..)

Originally Posted by persiphone

hahahahahaa @ "Except the Twilight series." and i'd wait at least 24 hours after Cat In The Hat to introduce Aslan. but spawn hasn't picked up Seuss since he was 4...well you know what he reads

i wonder what Pablo and Anne's children might have been like.

[pinkgeek]

You are all so welcome! I'm the girl who reads.. Always have been. So much so that I cried when I read this post.. I mourn the ending of my favorite books and I'll slow down to savor them longer.. I carry a purse large enough for a 400 page hardbound book..

and I'm glad I'm not the only one..

Originally Posted by DapperButch

This is utterly fantastic and SO true of the "girl who reads". Thanks for posting.

[1QuirkyKiwi]

Originally Posted by pinkgeek

You are all so welcome! I'm the girl who reads.. Always have been. So much so that I cried when I read this post.. I mourn the ending of my favorite books and I'll slow down to savor them longer.. I carry a purse large enough for a 400 page hardbound book..

and I'm glad I'm not the only one..

I always have a book on the go….I tried reading the first book of the Twilight series and gave up after 3 chapters, lol! I took the trilogy back to the library and got out a couple of historical fictions to read.

My cousin downloaded the Kindle PC app for my laptop….I cannot get on with it….it doesn’t feel the same when reading! I love to feel the weight of a book in my hands as I read….to feel the texture of the paper….to smell the book whether new or old. ….I’m the same with newspapers, lol! I will remain a traditionalist in this way (and a few others, lol!) and will not go willingly into the 21st century with eReaders....*Stamps foot in stubbornness, then sits down and pulls out a paperback book for a quick -ish read* LOL!

[pinkgeek]

I have Kindle on my iphone and it's great for reading in restaurants. My friends think I'm checking work email and low and behold I'm reading a book. Yeah I'm -that- girl.

Kiwi - on a PC digital books aren't my thing. I used to travel with half my luggage full of books, now I load my phone and save my back. You are right though, there is NOTHING like the feel of a real book.

I also collect antique books.

Originally Posted by 1QuirkyKiwi

I always have a book on the go….I tried reading the first book of the Twilight series and gave up after 3 chapters, lol! I took the trilogy back to the library and got out a couple of historical fictions to read.

My cousin downloaded the Kindle PC app for my laptop….I cannot get on with it….it doesn’t feel the same when reading! I love to feel the weight of a book in my hands as I read….to feel the texture of the paper….to smell the book whether new or old. ….I’m the same with newspapers, lol! I will remain a traditionalist in this way (and a few others, lol!) and will not go willingly into the 21st century with eReaders....*Stamps foot in stubbornness, then sits down and pulls out a paperback book for a quick -ish read* LOL!

[UofMfan]

I read, I love women that do.

[1QuirkyKiwi]

Originally Posted by pinkgeek

I have Kindle on my iphone and it's great for reading in restaurants. My friends think I'm checking work email and low and behold I'm reading a book. Yeah I'm -that- girl.

Kiwi - on a PC digital books aren't my thing. I used to travel with half my luggage full of books, now I load my phone and save my back. You are right though, there is NOTHING like the feel of a real book.

I also collect antique books.

I used to have a collection of antique books, but, with living a semi-nomadic life for 20 years…. I lost them when I moved to Scotland, the removal company somehow ‘mislaid’ the box ….it broke my heart. I haven’t felt like replacing them, yet! Maybe some time in the future when I’ve settles down.

I always get books from the Library and if I like them, then I’ll buy them to re-read, again in the future. My Scottish cousin bought me the complete Hercule poirrot short stories for my birthday last year….I’d read a story once a week so I could savour the book, lol!

I take a book into a restaurant or café and read. If I take my hand embroidery, I frequently get asked to show what I’m stitching and then a conversation starts up….I’m happy to chat, but, sometimes I just want my own time a space, especially at lunchtime when I’m feeling frazzled and I want to sit quietly eating my lunch, lol!

I will still carry a handful of books in my luggage as well as my hand embroidery, lol!

Thanks for posting this Pinkers.


A girl who doesn't read is a girl I wouldn't date.

[betenoire]

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by 1QuirkyKiwi

My cousin downloaded the Kindle PC app for my laptop….I cannot get on with it….it doesn’t feel the same when reading! I love to feel the weight of a book in my hands as I read….to feel the texture of the paper….to smell the book whether new or old. ….I’m the same with newspapers, lol! I will remain a traditionalist in this way (and a few others, lol!) and will not go willingly into the 21st century with eReaders....*Stamps foot in stubbornness, then sits down and pulls out a paperback book for a quick -ish read* LOL!

No kindle for me either. I like books. The same with newspapers.

[1QuirkyKiwi]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

No kindle for me either. I like books. The same with newspapers.

You're a Butch after my own heart....umm....except I'm a Femme, but, you know what I mean (....I hope!), lol!

Sunday mornings were meant for a loving couple to snuggle up together and read the newspaper together with ,lol!

By the time I've bought a kindle and paid £7....something to download book, I can buy a bookcase full of books for the same price, lol!

[kannon]

I love books too. But I'm going to try and switch over this semester and have all my text books on my ipad.

The trees.

[tazz]

Originally Posted by kannon

I love books too. But I'm going to try and switch over this semester and have all my text books on my ipad.

The trees.

***kannon... can you download non-textbooks and magazines for free on an iPad?

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by kannon

I love books too. But I'm going to try and switch over this semester and have all my text books on my ipad.

The trees.

But, then you can't "highlight", right? Or is there a way to do that on one of those things? If not, would make it hard to study for an exam (for me, anyway).

I had a friend in college who was so obsessive-compulsive with everything in life that she used a ruler when she would highlight!

I hear you on the tree thing, though.