I want to talk about my wife’s favourite books. Why? Because my wife is an avid reader, and she loves rereading her favourite books. This is not hyperbole, I mean she really loves them. Being the social butterfly couple that we are, we read nearly every night.1 During this time, we often discuss what’s happening in our books; like explaining key events or “Guess what’s happened now?”
Over time I have noticed something with my wife; every so often, while I’m explaining what’s happening in my book, she will say something to the effect, “That book sounds awful, I’m never reading it”, or “Listening to you explain that book, has convinced me never to read it‘, or worse, “Why are you even reading that?”
After losing track of the number of times I have heard this, I’ve decided to do something about it. Hence, I will be reacting to my wife’s favourite books. Before I continue, I need to explain the book selection. Asking a reader to narrow down or choose their favourite books; regardless of genres, is like torture. How in the nine circles of Dante’s Hell do you choose?
My wife generally reads books that are part of a series, because it’s like an unofficial guarantee that the book is good. From her perspective, why would a company continue to publish books in a series, if they were crap? Also when she reads a stand alone book, she needs to know what happens after the last page, so why bother?
When life is going off the rails,2my wife finds comfort in rereading a favourite series. She enjoys revisiting old friends and familiar locations.
When I asked her to name three of her favourite books, she happily began discussing which series to choose. Being her husband, I then pulled the rug from underneath her and explained, that she could not select any book from a series; they must be stand alone books.
She was not exactly thrilled about this, so after five days of constant deliberation, my wife had created a list of her three favourite stand alone books. They are in no particular order, so let’s take a look at her selection. Ready?
WARNING, there are spoilers, so read at your own caution.
1.) The Best of Adam Sharp by Graeme Simsion
I’ll be honest, I have not read this book; though I have read Simsion’s, The Rosie Trilogy, which is quite funny. I see a lot of Don Tillman in me, or maybe it’s me in Don Tillman?
I have a vague memory of my wife talking about this book, though I was probably eating pizza and watching rugby when it happened, so I probably wasn’t listening to the extent, I should have been. Sorry.
My wife wanted me to point out, that when she was at the library, looking for the second book in The Rosie Trilogy, she couldn’t find it. She needed something to read, so she grabbed The Best of Adam Sharp instead.
Anyway, I had to look this book up. The story goes like this: A guy named Adam is in a long-term relationship with Claire, but he often thinks about some ex-lover, named Angelina. Surprise, surprise, Angelina contacts him, and after some correspondence, she invites him to stay with her and her husband. What could possibly go wrong?
Upon asking my wife, why she likes this book, she explained that it’s for two reasons. The first reason is that, she thinks the characters are very complex and quite relatable. This is in spite of the notion of someone having a soulmate, that you can only ever love one person in your lifetime.3 She believes that a person can love different people, during their life time; so the concept of a soulmate is ridiculous to her.
The second reason is the apparent use of music within the book. Without reading it, I have to trust she knows what she’s talking about. Maybe. I’m getting side tracked here,…um…music.
She said music is woven throughout the book and it made her discover some new songs, that she could listen to as she read the book. It’s the opposite to me, I need total silence when reading; I’m quite simple.
So what do I think about this book?
I don’t know if I can be funny about this, but I think I’ll be giving this book a pass. Maybe it’s the thought about people talking through their feelings and relationships, or the concept of an ex-girlfriend, getting in touch with me,4 but this book does not seem to grab me; though I’m impressed and worried that my wife likes it.
2.) The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This book is quite quirky. In a nutshell, there is a man named Henry, and he has a rare disorder called Chrono-Impairment. This allows him to travel backwards and forwards through time, but only to points within his own timeline. He can’t control the jumps, he just has to survive the experience.
Through time travelling, Henry’s timeline is crossed with Clare, a woman that he falls in love with and eventually marries, and other crazy stuff happens as well.
So, my wife rates this book, because it was very different. She liked the way time travel was portrayed, because it was somewhat opposite to time travel, being a plot device in movies and tv shows that she had seen.
She also could relate to the main characters’ fertility struggles, as well as the book reminding her about an episode of Doctor Who; just without the angry rubbish bins with plungers, or the psychotic potato heads.
So what do I think about this book?
The funny thing with this book, is that I have already read it, because I’m the one that recommended it to my wife! I enjoyed the book for it’s non-linear storytelling, thought that is not always a good thing. Anyway, full credit to me, for having already read the book; and liked it enough to suggest it to my wife.
3.) Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman: one guy created Discworld, and the other guy wrote the Sandman5, so the expectations are quite high for this book. This is my wife’s summary of the book:
There are two unlikely friends, that are trying to stop Armageddon.
There is more to the book than that; witches, angels, demons, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, witchfinders, and of course, the son of Satan.
Once again, we turn to my wife’s opinion. She had never heard of the tv series, let alone the book, until she discovered that David Tennant would be starring in it. This convinced her to find the book, because she wanted to read it, before watching the tv show. She claimed she likes being superior in this way.
She found the book extremely hilarious, especially when you were expecting it to be serious, then something crazy happens. She also loves that Crowley’s car only plays Queen music. If you leave any album in the car, for an extended period of time, the car will covert it to Queen. As a Queen fan herself, she finds that quite entertaining.
So what do I think about this book?
Now, I have not had the honour of reading the book, but I have seen the tv mini-series. I enjoyed the show enough, to actually want to read the book. I have not moved the book to my to-read pile, but I promise you that I’m going to read it soon. Just don’t tell my wife.
Overall, her selection of books is not too terrible. At least there were no Mills & Boon, I would not have be able to handle that. Well that’s it. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week for some special blogs.
1 Even on Friday and Saturday nights, we usually read at some point. Yes, we are that cool.
2 I’m looking at you COVID-19, I’m so looking at you.
3 I don’t know if I should be worried about this statement or not.
4 My first thought would be, “Do I owe her money?”
5 Among other things.
SOME GEEK TOLD ME 
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