The art of marriage : a guide to living life as two
Record details
- ISBN: 9781592406104 (hardcover)
-
Physical Description:
print
275 p ; 20 cm. - Publisher: New York : Gotham Books, c2011.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Marriage |
Available copies
- 3 of 3 copies available at Sitka.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 0 total copies.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kitimat Public Library | 646.78 Bly (Text) | 32665001610718 | Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Portage la Prairie Regional Library | 646.78 BLY (Text) | 3675000157561 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Smithers Public Library | ANF 646.78 BLY (Text) | 35101000323902 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- BookPage Reviews : BookPage Reviews 2011 February
Lifestyles: Happy marriage, happy lifeThe Art of Marriage: A Guide to Living Life as Two by Catherine Blyth begins with a chapter in defense of the married state. Happily, this tone is sustained through the succeeding sections that detail, in great range and depth, every possible marital menace: in-laws, child-rearing, money, work, friends, fading desire, cheating and fighting. Glimpsing the enormity of what can go wrong might put a reader's own "inventory of irritations" into perspective.
Â
The guide is surprisingly fun to browse, due to the author's knack for backing up every point with a variety of anecdotal and historical evidence. Where else could you find Henry VIII on the same marital page as Brad and Angelina, or Epicurus and Heidi Klum closing their vast cultural gap on one another? The weight of so many quotes, quips and scandals is leavened by the author's own deft hand (she did, after all, write The Art of Conversation), and the whole thing comes off as an extended meditation on marriage in all its gore and glory.
Â
PRENUP DISAGREEMENT
As for what could go wrong before the honeymoon, see How I Planned Your Wedding  by mother-of-the-bride Susan Wiggs and daughter Elizabeth Wiggs Maas. Although it's categorized as a memoir, smart bookstores will shelve copies in the wedding section, because brides-to-be can learn much from this pair. As a best-selling author of romance (including the Lakeshore Chronicles), Wiggs mater is well qualified to devise a precise and perfect wedding plan, but not surprisingly, her daughter has different ideas. They end up collaborating on the wedding and the book as well, alternating voices in a fresh and funny narrative.
Â
Each chapter covers one essential aspect of wedding planningâbudget, venue, dress, attendants, invitations, registry, guests, ceremony, reception and so onâand each begins in Elizabeth's voice, followed by Susan's maternal perspective on the same situation, and finishes with a dandy "cheat sheet": a synopsis for brides in too much of a tearing hurry to read the whole thing.
Â
TOP PICK FOR LIFESTYLES
Fight Less, Love More: 5-Minute Conversations to Change Your Relationship without Blowing Up or Giving In is by Laurie Puhn, a Harvard-trained family and divorce lawyer and mediator who has seen more than her share of clients at "the point where a lack of appreciation, respect, or intimacy" threatens a relationship. Communication, she argues, is key, but the big idea here is that "couples don't need to talk more . . . they need to talk better."
Readers pick which situation best describes the conflict at hand: Do you argue about everything? Do you avoid intimacy? Is your spouse the silent type? Do you both need to learn to apologize, negotiate or stop overreacting? Are you shockingly rude to one another? Corresponding step-by-step strategiesâdesigned to take just 5 minutes of practice per dayâcan produce instant results, even when only one partner is actually willing to read the instructions. This kind of talking cure is good for any committed couple: "those at the beginning of a great relationship, couples in the thick of it who know it could be better, and even those who feel that there is no hope left."Â
Copyright 2011 BookPage Reviews.
- Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2010 November #2
The thrust of Blyth's (The Art of Conversation) newest book is that a lifelong marriage is worth all the angst and compromises that are necessary to make it work. Blyth uses examples from history (Napoléon), philosophy (Diderot), and popular stardom (Madonna and Guy Ritchie) to illustrate the challenges inherent in everyday issues like kids' runny noses, in-laws, and sexual desire. She acknowledges the unglamorous aspects of being married but puts marriage into the larger context of home and society. This is not so much a self-help guide for marriages in trouble as it is inspiration and assistance for those in relationships that are fairly healthy.
[Page 78]. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. - PW Annex Reviews : Publishers Weekly Annex Reviews
Platitudes abound in Blyth's marriage primer follow-up to The Art of Conversation. "For many couples marriage is not the choppy water, but the vessel to carry them through life's voyage." Also present here are Blyth's sweeping, undocumented statements, like "most divorcees report being less happy after a break-up than before," and pat conclusions: Millionaire Chef Jaime Oliver's wife, Jools, for instance, has "enlisted in the cult of the mother goddess" because she gets up to make her children porridge. References are often outdated and observations about sex in marriage, such as "the most contented couples also have well-matched libidos" or, if getting into the sack at all is a problem, to "Just Do It," lack insight. Though Blyth notes that she surveyed a number of couples for her new book, her examples are either vague, weak, or undocumented. She seems to write from a far-away place, where feminism has not yet reared its mighty head: "There is plentiful evidence that men feel emasculated if they earn less than their wives or do women's work." For Blyth, the solution to fixing that rotting relationship is no more complicated than this: husbands, kiss your wives. (Jan.)
[Page ]. Copyright 2010 PWxyz LLC