How To Stay Married

From Harrison Scott Key, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, How to Stay Married tells the hilarious, shocking, and spiritually profound story of one man’s journey through hell and back when infidelity threatens his marriage. One gorgeous autumn day, Harrison discovers that his wife—the sweet, funny, loving mother of their three daughters, a woman “who’s spent just about every Sunday of her life in a church”—is having an affair with a family friend. This revelation propels the hysterical, heartbreaking action of How to Stay Married, casting our narrator onto “the factory floor of hell,” where his wife was now in love with a man who “wears cargo shorts, on purpose.” What will he do? Kick her out? Set fire to all her panties in the yard? Beat this man to death with a gardening implement? Ask God for help in winning her back? Armed with little but a sense of humor and a hunger for the truth, Harrison embarks on a hellish journey into his past, seeking answers to the riddles of faith and forgiveness. Through an absurd series of escalating confessions and betrayals, Harrison reckons with his failure to love his wife in the ways she needed most, resolves to fight for his family, and in a climax almost too ridiculous to be believed, finally learns that love is no joke. How to Stay Married is a comic romp unlike any in contemporary literature, a wild Pilgrim’s Progress through the hellscape of marriage and the mysteries of mercy.

When Jilly Cooper, then a young Sunday Times journalist, was asked to write a book on marriage, she had been married to Leo Cooper for a mere seven years. Now they are celebrating their Golden Wedding, and although the institution of marriage has changed a great deal since this book was first written, much of Jilly's advice - frank, fearless, often hilarious, but always wise - still holds good. From the wedding and the honeymoon to life afterwards, including how to deal with the in-laws and how to tell if you spouse is having an affair, she dispenses anecdotes, jokes, common sense and endless optimism and fun.

Do you dream of finding the right person to spend your life with? Are you in a strong relationship already and wantto keep it that way? Or perhaps your marriage is a little tarnished and you hope to make it shine again? You've come to the right place. While How to Stay Married isn't your regular 'how-to' book, it is about creating the kind of relationship you want. This is the story of a marriage; a journey from fear, resentment and financial devastation, to a place of love, joy and trust. Mary-Lou Stephen's first book Sex, Drugs and Meditation chronicled how meditation changed her life, saved her job and helped her find a husband. How To Stay Married, is the truth behind the happy ending. How to Stay Married takes us around the world; from the glitter and glare of Las Vegas to the sub-zero temperatures of the French Alps and the tropical heat of Thailand, all with cabin luggage only. The discoveries Mary-Lou makes regarding herself and her marriage are a modern day parable about learning to travel light in life, love and relationships. Praise for Sex Drugs and Meditation "Bracingly honest, funny and rewarding, this is a book you can't put down." The Sydney Morning Herald "Perfection. Sex, Drugs and Meditation is one of the best memoirs I have read in years. Humble, witty and so very, very true. All I wanted was for this book to never end." Walter Mason, The Universal Heart Book Club. "Truth is more compelling than fiction." The Daily Telegraph.

Your therapist told you that marriage was no laughing matter, but standup comedian and podcaster Dustin Nickerson begs to differ. Join Dustin as he draws on experiences from his incredibly average life to share tips for appreciating the uniqueness of every marriage. Through storytelling and brutally honest disclosures, Dustin brings his highly relatable brand of humor to the challenges couples may face, including eating healthy (versus being happy), parenting (building crucial survival skills), finances (bill collectors, anyone?), and church attendance (Melissa's purse holds enough mints and fidget toys to entertain the kids and Dustin). Go beyond the formulas and charts of conventional marriage advice as you dig deep into your one-of-a-kind relationship. In this book written for actual married humans by an actual married human, Dustin shares: Why laughter in your marriage is essential--even in the hard times Why in marriage, unlike on Southwest, your baggage does not fly free An approach to problem-solving (we're talking money, kids, and in-laws) that brings you closer Why you should never put Scattergories on your wedding registry Praise for How to Be Married (to Melissa): "How to Be Married (to Melissa) feels like you're having a conversation with a guy who has legitimate experience and expertise in my favorite things: faith, marriage, and comedy. In a culture full of 'fake it till you make it' people, Dustin is the real deal when it comes to all three categories." --Trey Kennedy, comedian

Everyone tells you marriage is hard, but no one tells you what to do about it. At age thirty-four, Jo Piazza got her romantic-comedy ending when she met the man of her dreams on a boat in the Galápagos Islands and was engaged three months later. But before long, Jo found herself riddled with questions. How do you make a marriage work in a world where you no longer need to be married? How does an independent, strong-willed feminist become someone’s partner—all the time? In the tradition of writers such as Nora Ephron and Elizabeth Gilbert, award-winning journalist and nationally bestselling author Jo Piazza writes a provocative memoir of a real first year of marriage that will forever change the way we look at matrimony. A travel editor constantly on the move, Jo journeys to twenty countries on five continents to figure out what modern marriage means. Throughout this stunning, funny, warm, and wise personal narrative, she gleans wisdom from matrilineal tribeswomen, French ladies who lunch, Orthodox Jewish moms, Swedish stay-at-home dads, polygamous warriors, and Dutch prostitutes. Written with refreshing candor, elegant prose, astute reporting, and hilarious insight into the human psyche, How to Be Married offers an honest portrait of an utterly charming couple. When life throws more at them than they ever expected—a terrifying health diagnosis, sick parents to care for, unemployment—they ultimately create a fresh understanding of what it means to be equal partners during the good and bad times. Through their journey, they reveal a framework that will help the rest of us keep our marriages strong, from engagement into the newlywed years and beyond.

“Consistently funny…Congratulations, Who Are You Again? will have readers looking for more from this talented author. — Kirkus Reviews “A keenly observed account of the publishing process…Hilarious and illuminating.” — Booklist “In his second act, he takes you through his process of realizing that dream with charm and wit, offering entertainment and practical insight for anyone with a seemingly pie-in-the-sky wish list.” — Good Housekeeping

Get Married, Stay Married is a complete series of marriage counseling sessions rolled into one comprehensive book that couples can read and absorb together. The reality of the authors’ own 44-year marriage and the infidelity and addiction troubles they faced bring home the credibility of their sound advice based on biblical principles and real-life experiences. With honesty, humor, and profound insight, Get Married, Stay Married speaks directly to the difficult truths of marriage with authentic, redemptive love. Timeless principals and practical tools are presented for all modern-day couples: Preparing for marriage. Who want to strengthen and safeguard an already stable marriage. Who want to bring healing and wholeness to a struggling marriage. Get Married, Stay Married is a unique map and compass that keeps any marriage on the road to lifelong joy and fulfillment. The secrets you learn will dramatically change for the better your life, your spouse, and your love for each other.

Seven essays celebrating the beauty of the imperfect marriage. We hear plenty about whether or not to get married, but much less about what it takes to stay married. Clichés around marriage—eternal bliss, domestic harmony, soul mates—leave out the real stuff. After marriage you may still want to sleep with other people. Sometimes your partner will bore the hell out of you. And when stuck paying for your spouse’s mistakes, you might miss being single. In Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give, Ada Calhoun presents an unflinching but also loving portrait of her own marriage, opening a long-overdue conversation about the institution as it truly is: not the happy ending of a love story or a relic doomed by high divorce rates, but the beginning of a challenging new chapter of which “the first twenty years are the hardest.” Calhoun’s funny, poignant personal essays explore the bedrooms of modern coupledom for a nuanced discussion of infidelity, existential anxiety, and the many other obstacles to staying together. Both realistic and openhearted, Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give offers a refreshing new way to think about marriage as a brave, tough, creative decision to stay with another person for the rest of your life. “What a burden,” Calhoun calls marriage, “and what a gift.”