A girl who reads
I don't know who this post on date a girl who reads is quoting, but all the same I'd like to bring to your attention this photo of me with one of my four book cases. ;) Below are some of my favourite bits (and if I was being all serious I'd scrap the last paragraph, because I don't like that sort of 'deserving' speak, or the tone of it). H/T Along Addison's Walk.
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 an 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.
...
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.
And I'd just like to end by whispering that a thing of beauty is a joy forever.