A list of the 10 Best Marriage Books to better, strengthen, and uplift your marriage. These marriage books are great for everyone, from newlyweds to those who have been married for years.
10 Best Marriage Books
As I mentioned in my Best Marriage Advice I've Ever Received post, we had a difficult start to our marriage. Part of my effort in trying to remedy our relationship was lots and lots and LOTS of reading. Today I want to share with you my favorite marriage books, for all parts of marriage. Whether you're in marital turmoil or bliss, newlyweds or married for decades, these are some books that you will enjoy and that will help you to strengthen and better your marriage in the process.
Best Marriage Books List
1. Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs - A book designed to teach husbands and wives what their significant other really needs in their marriage. I must admit that when I first began reading this book, I really thought Dr. Eggerichs was full of it. I really did not believe that men wanted respect and admiration more than they wanted to feel loved. Dr. Eggerichs must have sensed that there would be some trepidation with the concept and challenges you to ask your significant other if they could only choose one and had to live without the other, would they rather be loved and cherished or repected and admired? Guess which one Mr. Gracious chose, to my complete and utter surprise. That gave this book a lot more merit in my eyes, and while I don't necessarily agree with every word, I believe it's definitely a good read and nudged me in the right direction to understanding my husband. This book also comes with a workbook
that is a great talking-point resource if you wanted to read this together with your spouse.
2. Men Are Like Waffles--Women Are Like Spaghetti by Bill and Pam Farrel - This book takes a look at the different ways that men and women think in a fun and easy to understand format. I still reference this book to Mr. Gracious when my mind is running all over the place all spaghetti-y and he's staring at me blankly wondering how in the world the conversation went from A to Z while he's still over there thinking about A.
3. For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn - I'm going to be blatantly honest, and tell you this was a difficult read for me, emotionally. Shaunti describes the inner workings of men in a blatantly honest and upfront way based on research, surveys, and interviews with men, and her findings were quite extraordinary. I did find this book incredibly useful, and it definitely opened up some intimate conversations between my husband and I. However, I would caution you to read this book while in a good, solid place in your marriage. It might be too much information to process if you're in the middle of marital turmoil.
4. The 5 Love Languages by Gary D Chapman - I think we can classify this as a marriage classic at this point. But if you've never read it, I encourage you to do so. I love this book on two counts: 1. It helps you to understand yourself and how you feel most loved. When you understand yourself, you can communicate your needs to your spouse better. 2. I also love this book because it allows you to see love from the eyes of your spouse. For example, Mr. Gracious is always doing stuff for me (acts of service). This is not really my love language but when I see that he's trying to do something for me now, I can appreciate that that's his way of showing me he loves me because that's how he feels most loved.
5. The Husband Project: 21 Days of Loving Your Man by Kathi Lipp - This book is really fun kind of do-it-yourself marriage project. You spend 21 days making it all about your husband. You get prompts to work with each day, and then you can customize it to make it really special for your husband. It really helps you focus on not only your husband, but all the little things that make him special and all the little reasons that you fell in love with him in the first place.
6. If It Was Easy, They'd Call the Whole D*** Thing a Honeymoon by Jenna McCarthy - This is a really fun and light read. I honestly couldn't put it down, and spent much of my time reading literally laughing out loud. The book goes through some common problems in marriage in a very humorous and fun way, and also provides some no-nonsense solutions to the problems. Fair warning- this book does contain expletives.
7. The Love Dare by Alex and Stephen Kendrick - A book that was really brought to light with the movie Fireproof
. With Mr. Gracious being a firefighter, we rented this movie long before we ever knew about this book. It's similar to The Husband Project, but even more in-depth. I also highly recommend watching the movie, if you've never seen it. It's very powerful, and will also give you an idea of just how powerful this book is.
8. Boundaries in Marriage by Henry Cloud and John Townsend - This book talks about setting boundaries for yourself in your marriage based on Christian principles, and the ways in which these boundaries will help and strengthen your marriage. The intent is to look inward at yourself to see the best ways you can fix and strengthen your marriage.
9. Sacred Marriage by Gary L Thomas - This is a fantastic and uplifting book about the true reason for marriage, bringing us closer to God. It wants us to shift our paradigm of marriage from making ourselves happy, to looking at marriage and all its joys and trials as paths that lead us to God. It's a truly unique and excellent book!
10. The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex by Sheila Wray Gregoire - This book talks about sex in marriage, and is directed toward wives. It talks not just about the physical aspect of sex, but also the emotionally intimate and spiritual parts. It's a fun and worth-while read whether you're newly married or a veteran wife. Who doesn't want to have even more fun in the bedroom?!
Did you like these 10 Best Marriage Books? Find more on my Love & Marriage board on Pinterest!
If you liked these 10 Best Marriage Books you might also like:
How to Make Your Husband a Priority
See More Thoughts and Tips on Love and Marriage
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Stephanie says
I have been looking for a new marriage book to read. I really enjoyed The 5 Love Languages and Sacred Marriage. One of my absolute favorites is Becoming the Woman of His Dreams by Sharon Jaynes. I have noticed For Women Only in a lot of places lately and have always wondered about the Men Are Like Waffles Women Are Like Spaghetti book; I think I will have to give them a try. Thanks for the recommendations.
Debi says
Thanks for sharing these wonderful books on the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop1
T'onna @ USS Crafty says
Men Are Like Waffles–Women Are Like Spaghetti is a funny and interesting title! I recently read the 5 Love Languages Military Edition, and I enjoyed it, so I' sure the original 5 Love Languages book is just as good. And I'd like to read Jenna Macarthy's book! That's another interesting title! Haha Thanks for sharing at the Submarine Sunday Link Party! I hope you'll stop by the party again soon!!
Marie says
We actually have about half of these but I will definitely be checking out the rest! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Stephanie says
Love a good marriage book! Just read "Marriage Rebranded" and it was really good. Short and sweet!
Michelle says
I'll have to check that one out! Thanks!
Jeannette says
I am interested in reading these, the book I am reading now is called "A lifelong Love" by Gary Thomas, it is very good, I recommend reading it.