My dearest friend,
To love a bookworm is a romance unlike any other. She may be 17 or 68 but she remains the girl who just bought her first novel and feels that same rush of delight when she buys a new book.
First of all, you must be patient with her silence when her lips hint at a smile. Her thoughts have become lines of poetry that are entwined with thoughts of you. At least they are... Sometimes.
She might scribble them in the margins of a notebook but to read them to you would render her shy and gauche. But her mind does compose poems for you. She does wonder about practical things like shoes and the straightness of her fringe. Walk along the shelves as she hunts for a new treasure , hold her hand or the books she considers.
Miracle if you get to choose a book for her- never mention the book again. She will tell you how you just have to read it the moment she closes it. She will not beg but heed her wisdom. Until then, she is likely to have a stock of books that are either read as soon she walks out the shop or she will let it lie until it calls her name out. But mention it and you awake a dark beast of guilt for not reading the book you picked out for her. And it will taint the reading of the current book in her hands for a chapter or three.
You must remember that you are a romantic hero of sorts in her mind. Since she was a little girl she wondered about you before you knew her. She created a mosaic of all the "perfect " men. But one hopes she realised you are not going to fit that muddle of Darcy and Heathcliff and Marius.... But she sees all the little glimmers of all her great literary loves in your smile. You might be practical or sporty or you may read but not the way she does. But she knows that you cannot be expected to live up to her ideal and instead you begin to define the idea of love that she has. Romance her in the way she pines to be romanced- to be courted and written letters (a thoughtful email will suffice, dear boy). She may have a secret love of umbrellas(Because Jo in Little Women found herself confessing love under one) or she might run her hand along brick walls to chance upon Diagon Alley. These quirks may be secret or she will tell you. Don't ridicule her little dreams that she builds on clouds of fancy.
Her moods may be strange. After all, Mr Rochester broke poor Jane's heart and left your beloved inconsolable for a week when she put the book down and refused to go any further until she felt calm again. Her tears may fall while reading The Notebook and it is the cruelest deed to laugh at her. You don't understand how deeply she feels for Noah in that moment. The next time she has a book she may burst into laughter and feel no shame in rocking in her chair as she tries to explain the joke to you. (Nod and try to see the humour).
She will have ebooks, old books, new books, bits the dog chewed books. She may have all those or just one type. They are her family and she will likely hold them dear for as long as she lives. Enid and Roald will stay, even if you don't. There is a list of books she wants to keep for her children and a list she will ban from her house . She will scrunch her face up in dark anger if you or anyone suggests she gives her old books away. Because what if she has the urge to reread all the Anne of Green Gables books (which should be read every 4 years or so... Just in case) and she could not find them? Exactly.
She will have a mind that always craves a story and a heart that yearns for the kind of love she thinks doesn't happen in this century anymore. Surprise her and read a book(or try). Her eyes will sparkle like the heart of the mountain and you will be the one to rule over her heart.
She will never say it - But try to love her as much as she loves you and her books.
Kind regards.
