The Literary Wives blog series is a collaborative effort. A group of us bloggers are posting about books that have the word “wife” in the title.
Let me introduce you to the participating bloggers.
Ariel of One Little Library
Audra of Unabridged Chick
Carolyn of Rosemary and Reading Glasses
Cecilia of Only You
Lynn of Smoke & Mirrors
Kay of What Me Read
Naomi of Consumed by Ink
Kate of Kate Rae Davis: Reading Culture, Finding God
And, of course, me: Emily of The Bookshelf of Emily J.
We are asking the following two questions:
1. What does this book say about wives or about the experience of being a wife?
2. In what way does this woman define “wife”—or in what way is she defined by “wife”?
Here is the list of books we are reading and reviewing.
May 2013: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
June 2013: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
July 2013: A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
August 2013: The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin
October 2013: Ahab’s Wife or, the Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund
December 2013: The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon
April 2014: The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
June 2014: The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
August 2014: The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy
October 2014: Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon
December 2014: The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
February 2015: The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson
April 2015: The Bishop’s Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison
June 2015: My Father’s Wives by Mike Greenberg
August 2015: The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel
October 2015: The Silent Wife by A. S. A. Harrison
December 2015: The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
February 2016: A Circle of Wives by Alice LaPlante
April 2016: The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun
June 2016: The Disobedient Wife by Annika Milisic-Stanley
August 2016: How to Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman
October 2016: American Housewife by Helen Ellis
December 2016: Mrs. Hemingway by Naomi Wood
February 2017: The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
April 2017: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Theresa Fowler
June 2017: The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Feel free to read and blog along. We would love to have you join the conversation!
The Bookshelf of Emily J. 
Very intresting series..at the end of it are you coming out with a comparative study of these wives as well. That sounds so gud to me though not even sure if it’s possible..just read paris wife and a farewell to arms..loved both of them
That’s a really good idea. I may just do that! Perhaps my post will naturally lead to a comparison among the wives.
Have you thought about adding _Ahab’s Wife_ to the list?
I think we are just doing a four-month stint, but if it is popular and the other bloggers want to continue, I’m up for adding books. Is that one good?
I read it ages ago, and remember enjoying it thoroughly. I was impressed by Ms. Neuland’s ability to spin out a whole character, an entire life, from just the two or three mentions of Ahab’s wife in _Moby-Dick_.
That is impressive. I want to read it!
I love the concept and I love the questions. Will try to catch up on these books and come back to comment!
Sounds good!
I’ve been enjoying your Literary Wives series, and wondered if you’ve considered Nancy Horan’s Under the Wide and Starry Sky, which is about Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife, Fanny Van Grift Stevenson? It’s well done. I’m also recalling your post on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,so it would be a nice tie-in.
Ooh, that sounds like an interesting one. For the series we have been choosing books that strictly have the word “wife” in the title, but I may read this one just on my own. Thanks for the suggestion!
Our local library group is reading wife-y books this year, too. The first one didn’t have “wife” in the title, however– Z:A Story of Zelda Fitzgerald. It was a very interesting perspective on the 1920s.
I loved that one! I thought it definitely belonged with our other “wife” books.
If you’re looking for more lit-related blogs for this series (or if you do another series in the future), I’d love to be included! This is such a great idea and group.
We would love to include you, Kate! I think the best way to get you involved is through email. I think I can get your email from your comment and I’ll make sure you can join our conversations. One of the other ladies can add you to the google doc as well with the list of what we are reading.