Fans pick 100 books like Every Man's Marriage

By Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker,

Here are 100 books that Every Man's Marriage fans have personally recommended if you like Every Man's Marriage. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of The Five Love Languages

Khadijah Butler Author Of Laying the Foundation: Brick by Brick

From my list on self-help that stretches you and inspire change.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child and even as an adult, I’ve always been curious and stopped at nothing to seek out answers. Fast forward, I’ve been a clinical research professional for over 17 years so it’s no surprise that writing a How-To Book would come naturally. Having a passion for others took me on an altruistic journey of addressing my pain points and helping others address theirs. I hope at least one of these books will help you in becoming the best version of yourself!

Khadijah's book list on self-help that stretches you and inspire change

Khadijah Butler Why did Khadijah love this book?

Becoming a manager at an early age and now a nonprofit founder, I realize how important the statement ‘Relationship before Task’ is. While this book is used to sustain relationships of love, the lessons on how we invest emotionally in other areas of our life, including the workplace and friendships, is just as impactful. This book encourages me to give guidance, not ultimatums when making my needs known. Overall, this book is a reminder that being relationship-focused will bring us the love and/or significance that we’re looking for. 

By Gary Chapman,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Five Love Languages as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Through fun-filled presentations before a live audience, Gary Chapman helps you identify your personal love language. He also helps you understand the love language of your spouse.


Book cover of Becoming Your Spouse's Better Half: Why Differences Make a Marriage Great

Jay Payleitner Author Of 52 Things Wives Need from Their Husbands: What Husbands Can Do to Build a Stronger Marriage

From my list on for husbands to get less nagging and more nookie.

Why am I passionate about this?

After a decade writing advertising for airlines and beer, I found myself working as a freelance radio producer for thousands of radio broadcasts for Chuck Colson, Josh McDowell, Fathers.com, Heritage Foundation, and Voice of the Martyrs. Later, I reinvented myself as a national speaker and best-selling author of 25+ books including 52 Things Kids Need from a Dad, Don’t Take the Bait to Escalate, and What If God Wrote Your Bucket List? with sales approaching one million copies. My wife Rita and I live near Chicago, where we raised five awesome kids, loved on ten foster babies, and are cherishing grandparenthood.

Jay's book list on for husbands to get less nagging and more nookie

Jay Payleitner Why did Jay love this book?

This book delivers solid ideas on a successful marriage from a man’s perspective. Johnson’s approach may feel a little old-fashioned, where the man is the strong provider and the woman is the nurturer and she even has power over him because of her feminine wiles. But you know what? It works! Let’s face it, men and women have different world views and priorities. Johnson’s style is sly, fun, and relatable.

By Rick Johnson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Becoming Your Spouse's Better Half as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It's no secret that men and women are different. And it's no secret that they don't always get along because of these differences, even when they love each other. But having a successful marriage is not about finding the perfect person to marry. It's about loving someone in an unselfish, Christlike manner. Whatever we want out of marriage--unconditional love, forgiveness, passion--that is what we have to give to our spouse. Rick Johnson shows couples how to go beyond merely tolerating each other's differences to using those God-given differences to add spice and passion to their relationship.


Book cover of For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women

Jay Payleitner Author Of 52 Things Wives Need from Their Husbands: What Husbands Can Do to Build a Stronger Marriage

From my list on for husbands to get less nagging and more nookie.

Why am I passionate about this?

After a decade writing advertising for airlines and beer, I found myself working as a freelance radio producer for thousands of radio broadcasts for Chuck Colson, Josh McDowell, Fathers.com, Heritage Foundation, and Voice of the Martyrs. Later, I reinvented myself as a national speaker and best-selling author of 25+ books including 52 Things Kids Need from a Dad, Don’t Take the Bait to Escalate, and What If God Wrote Your Bucket List? with sales approaching one million copies. My wife Rita and I live near Chicago, where we raised five awesome kids, loved on ten foster babies, and are cherishing grandparenthood.

Jay's book list on for husbands to get less nagging and more nookie

Jay Payleitner Why did Jay love this book?

This book is research-driven. But that doesn't mean it’s dry and dusty. Just the opposite! You can expect to pick up at least a dozen practical bits of advice or information you will use in your marriage and will even come in handy in any situation when you are interacting with the women. You’ll enjoy the conversational down-to-earth style, and walk away with real-life revelations that really will help you better understand women, and your wife in particular. You’ll find yourself in the doghouse less frequently and for a shorter duration. And she’ll snuggle up to you more often seemingly for no reason at all.

By Shaunti Feldhahn, Jeff Feldhahn,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked For Men Only as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Shaunti and Jeff have unearthed a treasure chest of insights—eye-opening and life-changing.”
—Andy Stanley, senior pastor, North Point Community Church

Finally, you can understand her!

If you’re like most men, you’ve burned up lots of energy trying to figure out what a woman wants, what makes her tick, how to make her happy. 

The good news: success is simpler than you ever thought.  In their groundbreaking classic, For Men Only, Jeff and Shaunti Feldhahn reveal the eye-opening truths and simple acts that will radically improve your relationship with the woman you love. For example:
• Why she can’t “just not…


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Book cover of Kanazawa

Kanazawa By David Joiner,

Emmitt’s plans collapse when his wife, Mirai, suddenly backs out of purchasing their dream home. Disappointed, he’s surprised to discover her subtle pursuit of a life and career in Tokyo.

In his search for a meaningful life in Japan, and after quitting his job, he finds himself helping his mother-in-law…

Book cover of Husband On Purpose: Your 30 Day Action Plan to Become a Better Man and Build a Better Marriage

Jay Payleitner Author Of 52 Things Wives Need from Their Husbands: What Husbands Can Do to Build a Stronger Marriage

From my list on for husbands to get less nagging and more nookie.

Why am I passionate about this?

After a decade writing advertising for airlines and beer, I found myself working as a freelance radio producer for thousands of radio broadcasts for Chuck Colson, Josh McDowell, Fathers.com, Heritage Foundation, and Voice of the Martyrs. Later, I reinvented myself as a national speaker and best-selling author of 25+ books including 52 Things Kids Need from a Dad, Don’t Take the Bait to Escalate, and What If God Wrote Your Bucket List? with sales approaching one million copies. My wife Rita and I live near Chicago, where we raised five awesome kids, loved on ten foster babies, and are cherishing grandparenthood.

Jay's book list on for husbands to get less nagging and more nookie

Jay Payleitner Why did Jay love this book?

Men need to take responsibility for their marriage and family. And sometimes you need a plan. While the book seems to jump around a bit thematically, there’s a ton of great insight and even step-by-step instructions on making changes that need to be made. I guarantee, several passages in this book will jump out as things you had never previously considered. After studying your wife and working on your communication skills for the recommended 30 days, you may even suddenly feel as if you can read your wife’s mind! It’s an easy read and puts the ball in your hands and the ball in your court. Right where it needs to be. Men you can do this!

By II A. Conrad Deas,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Husband On Purpose as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A step by step blueprint that can quickly transform your marriage..." - Hal Elrod Author of The Miracle Morning Book Series
Are you the man and husband you decided to be? Or did you drift to this point mostly on autopilot?
If you aren't the best husband you can be -- but you'd like to be -- read this book.
"Most of us get married on purpose... then we end up being a husband on accident."
This book lays out specific action steps to help you Love Your Wife On Purpose, EXACTLY the way she wants to be loved.
Impossible?…


Book cover of Cleaning Nabokov's House

Regina Buttner Author Of Absolution

From my list on women taking back their power from controlling men.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was raised in a loving but strict Catholic family in the 1970s, when girls like me were still expected to grow up to become traditional wives and mothers, rather than go to college and pursue a career. In a Pre-Cana class intended to prepare me and my fiancé for marriage (it didn’t work so well, as evidenced by our rancorous divorce twelve years later), I learned the concept of “family of origin,” and the profound impact a person’s upbringing has on them as an adult. I became fascinated by the psychic baggage each of us carries around, and how it affects our personal relationships and life choices.

Regina's book list on women taking back their power from controlling men

Regina Buttner Why did Regina love this book?

I was afraid this book might be too depressing at first, and kept yelling at the heroine, Barb, to quit feeling sorry for herself and do something already to get her kids back from her domineering ex-husband. But the author’s wry voice drew me in, and this quirky novel is now one of my all-time favorites. Throughout the low times in my life, I’ve found humor to be the best tonic, and bumbling Barb delivers it here. I love how she rises above her seemingly hopeless circumstances by devising a highly questionable but totally kick-ass hilarious scheme to raise some quick cash and reunite with her children. The zany characters and spot-on descriptions of small-town life are guaranteed to boost your mood. 

By Leslie Daniels,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cleaning Nabokov's House as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“I knew I could stay in this town when I found the blue enamel pot floating in the lake. The pot led me to the house, the house led me to the book, the book to the lawyer, the lawyer to the whorehouse, the whorehouse to science, and from science I joined the world.”

So begins Leslie Daniels’s funny and moving novel about a woman’s desperate attempt to rebuild her life. When Barb Barrett walks out on her loveless marriage she doesn’t realize she will lose everything: her home, her financial security, even her beloved children. Approaching forty with her…


Book cover of Letters to a Romantic: First Years of Marriage

Kristen Clark and Bethany Beal Author Of Sex, Purity, and the Longings of a Girl's Heart: Discovering the Beauty and Freedom of God-Defined Sexuality

From my list on Christian books on marriage and sexuality.

Why are we passionate about this?

We are sisters and the co-founders of Girl Defined Ministries, where our goal is to help modern girls understand and live out God’s timeless truth for womanhood. Through Girl Defined we talk about such topics as biblical womanhood, relationships, love, marriage, sexuality, identity, and much more.

Kristen's book list on Christian books on marriage and sexuality

Kristen Clark and Bethany Beal Why did Kristen love this book?

The first few years of marriage can often be the most challenging. Luckily Sean Perron and Spencer Harmon (with some help from their wives) have written this series of “love letters” to newly married couples. In them, they address many common difficulties newlyweds face, from finances to sex. This is a great resource for not only couples, but those in a dating relationship or single as well!

By Sean Perron, Spencer M. Harmon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Letters to a Romantic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Dear Romantic,

The first years of marriage are filled with joys, sorrows . . . and surprises. These will set relationship patterns that will determine the course of your marriage. As you begin your life together, you probably have some questions, and you know the stakes are high. We want to help.

If you want to navigate the early years of your marriage in a way that glorifies Christ and honors his Word, this book will be a great resource for getting a conversation going. In a series of warm, short, practical letters, Sean Perron and Spencer Harmon, along with…


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Book cover of All They Need to Know

All They Need to Know By Eileen Goudge,

On the run from her abusive husband, Kyra Smith hits the road. Destination unknown. With a dog she rescued in tow, she lands in the peaceful California mountain town of Gold Creek and is immediately befriended by an openhearted group of women who call themselves the Tattooed Ladies. They’re there…

Book cover of Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?

Scott LaPierre Author Of Your Marriage God's Way: A Biblical Guide to a Christ-Centered Relationship

From my list on Christian marriage (from the author of a best-selling Christian marriage book).

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the teaching pastor of Woodland Christian Church, and in 2016, I published a best-selling marriage book, Your Marriage God's Way, with an accompanying workbook. Soon after that, I began receiving invitations to put on marriage conferences across the nation. My experience teaching on marriage, performing marriage counseling, and meeting so many married couples has given me a strong biblical understanding of marriage.

Scott's book list on Christian marriage (from the author of a best-selling Christian marriage book)

Scott LaPierre Why did Scott love this book?

The subtitle of the book helps you understand Gary Thomas’s purpose: he wants to help his readers see that marriage is not primarily for our happiness.

Although it is a gift and frequently fills us with joy, marriage is also very sanctifying, which is to say it makes us holy. Few things in life help us grow spiritually as much as marriage. When we get married we learn to be patient, gentle, and we frequently have to find ourselves being forgiving. And these are all wonderful graces.

By Gary Thomas,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sacred Marriage as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What if God designed marriage to make you holy instead of happy? What if your relationship isn't as much about you and your spouse as it is about you and God?

In Sacred Marriage, bestselling author Gary Thomas uncovers the ways that your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God and with each other. Join over one million others who have already uncovered Thomas's tips for fostering a sacred marriage.

Within the pages of Sacred Marriage, Thomas invites you to see how God can use your relationship with your spouse as a discipline and a motivation…


Book cover of Female Husbands

Simon Joyce Author Of LGBT Victorians: Sexuality and Gender in the Nineteenth-Century Archives

From my list on showing that trans people have always existed.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an academic researcher interested in this topic but also one of the people who gets demonized in conservative media: the parent of a transgender child. I want my daughter to know that similar people have existed in history and that lawmakers are wrong to claim that we’re in a scary new world when we advocate for respect and the rights of trans people. While doing that advocacy work, I’m alarmed by positions within the LGBTQI+ movement echoing right-wing ones, including what’s known as “gender critical feminism.” My book argues a positive case for coalition in the face of pressures to fracture along distinct lines of sexuality and gender identity. 

Simon's book list on showing that trans people have always existed

Simon Joyce Why did Simon love this book?

If you’re wondering in practical ways how to do trans history, Manion’s book is a great place to start. It takes one of the categories that preceded a transgender identity (the name typically given to people affirmed female at birth who identified as men and married women) and reimagines how eighteenth- and nineteenth-century lives might look with the benefit of the tools of our modern politics. The book is boldly inclusive, resisting deciding ahead of time how the category should be defined and who should be ruled in or out. Manion is also a role model in respecting the ambiguities of the past, mostly using neutral pronouns and offering non-judgmental speculations about what these subjects and their partners might have thought at key moments in their courageous and inspiring lives. 

By Jen Manion,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Female Husbands as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Long before people identified as transgender or lesbian, there were female husbands and the women who loved them. Female husbands - people assigned female who transed gender, lived as men, and married women - were true queer pioneers. Moving deftly from the colonial era to just before the First World War, Jen Manion uncovers the riveting and very personal stories of ordinary people who lived as men despite tremendous risk, danger, violence, and threat of punishment. Female Husbands weaves the story of their lives in relation to broader social, economic, and political developments in the United States and the United…


Book cover of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

Shannon McKenna Schmidt Author Of Novel Destinations: A Travel Guide to Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West

From my list on classic writers as characters.

Why am I passionate about this?

Visiting author houses and museums has always been a favored pastime of mine and was the inspiration to write the travel guide Novel Destinations. Complementary to writing nonfiction about classic writers, I love reading novels featuring them as characters. Fiction authors adhere to biographical details as well, but they have a freer hand with the narrative to color outside the lines and to color in details and explore feelings and motivations. Through their narratives they turn these literary figures into flesh-and-blood characters and allow the reader to step into their storied lives. 

Shannon's book list on classic writers as characters

Shannon McKenna Schmidt Why did Shannon love this book?

I deliberately read The Mystery of Mrs. Christie slowly so that I could savor the story longer. The novel alternates chapters between present-day 1926, after famous novelist Agatha Christie has disappeared and sparked a headline-making manhunt in England, and the decade or so leading up to it. The story of her disappearance and the possible reasons behind it is intriguing, but I especially enjoyed the chapters set in the past and getting to know Agatha as a young woman and an aspiring writer.

By Marie Benedict,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Mystery of Mrs. Christie as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER!

AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF 2021!

"A stunning story... The ending is ingenious, and it's possible that Benedict has brought to life the most plausible explanation for why Christie disappeared for 11 days in 1926."―The Washington Post

The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room returns with a thrilling reconstruction of one of the most notorious events in literary history: Agatha Christie's mysterious 11-day disappearance in 1926.

In December 1926, Agatha Christie goes missing. Investigators find her empty car on the edge of…


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Book cover of Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS

Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS By Amy Carney,

When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more…

Book cover of Leaning Into Love: A Spiritual Journey Through Grief

Julie Saeger Nierenberg Author Of Daddy, This Is It: Being-with My Dying Dad

From my list on death and dying, grief, and loss.

Why am I passionate about this?

Since 2012, when I was fortunate to be a companion to my dying father, I have gained a deep appreciation for the topics of death, dying, grief and bereavement. Being with him during his final moments was a vitally transformative event in my life, and subsequent developments led me to become a writer and curator of content in this field. I am now an end-of-life educator and preparedness facilitator, whose role it is to assist others to prepare for their inevitable, eventual death. Being prepared, by making informed choices and documenting them, can be one of the greatest gifts we give to our loved ones. I coach my End-of-Life Matters clients to do just that.

Julie's book list on death and dying, grief, and loss

Julie Saeger Nierenberg Why did Julie love this book?

Mansfield’s poignant story of her beloved husband’s journey through cancer and his eventual death is a heartfelt telling of the intimate story of how she becomes a widow and how she meets that event with courage and spiritual exploration. She rises from the ashes of her grief and soars like a phoenix to give back to others, a brilliantly told tale.

By Elaine Mansfield,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Leaning Into Love as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Gold Medal Winner, Independent Publisher Book Award in Category Aging, Death and Dying

"Magnificent, profoundly moving . . . gives encouragement and solace to all." —Naomi Shihab Nye

"I'll find a way to be all right," Elaine promised Vic, her dying husband and best friend of 42 years. Leaving the hospital after he passed, she had no idea how. Her uplifting story of love, hope, determination, and triumph is a gift to the half million women who lose spouses each year.

Leaning into Love captures the heart--from the extraordinary closeness of Elaine's marriage to how she and Vic transform their…


Book cover of The Five Love Languages
Book cover of Becoming Your Spouse's Better Half: Why Differences Make a Marriage Great
Book cover of For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women

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