What was the BEST Marriage Book You Read? The WORST?

I've only read one marriage book, but really liked it: The Five Love Languages. I actually read it as a single, but thought it was very helpful in all types of relationships. And I continue to find it helpful in my marriage.

I say the bible

Best was "Families where Grace is in Place" by Jeff VanVonderen

Worst was definitely "The Excellent Wife" (sorry, Nif). I disagreed so strongly with some of Martha Peace's distorting of scripture.
And yeah, the Pearls stuff is just awful... I will not touch it with a ten-foot pole.

Avniel said:

I say the bible

Click to expand...

Believe it or not, sometimes the Bible doesn't spell it out in detail well enough for many people to understand and while I haven't found a marriage book yet that was helpful towards my marriage, I would not discount them.

So far, trial and error has worked the best for us, since our marriage isn't like yours. There is no such thing as a cookie cutter marriage.

While I am all for listing the Bible first
I'm also going to list my non-Bible resources.

And to the OP: Created to be his help meet was actually the first book about marriage I read. It was given to me by a woman in my home church, the scripture bits didn't line up really well but it wasn't the worst.

Best:
Before You Say "I Do" by H. Norman Wright, Wes Roberts

It was our workbook and study guide in marriage prep.
Lots of great scripture and heavy things to discuss.

Worst:
The First Five Years of Marriage from Focus on the Family.
I started reading through it, there wasn't really anything Biblical in there. It was all letters from people with issues in their marriage and responses from people at Focus on the Family. I was really disappointed.

Edit: Can I also say that I was extremely disappointed with the notes placed by editors in our Family Life Marriage Bible? Seriously. Really bad.

So if you want to buy a family Bible or one as a gift for a couple getting married...don't buy this one.
http://www.christianbook.com/nkjv-f...ble-leathersoft-brown/9781418542146/pd/542146

I liked Martha Peace's 'The Excellent Wife' and I'm currently reading 'Beautiful in His Eyes'. I've not read the Pearl's book though it looked interesting.

For men only <---for da husband
For women only <---for da wife

These books try and teach the man and woman the mental differences that cause a lot of mis-understandings. It did me a lot of good.

Best: The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage by Dr. Laura Schlessinger

Worst: The Act of Marriage by Tim & Beverly LaHaye

Oooh yeah, The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands - excellent book!!

Best: Sacred Marriage (Gary Thomas) and The Meaning of Marriage (Timothy Keller) tied for first place.

Worst: Real Marriage (Mark and Grace Driscoll) Yikes.....

but I really think she's kinda a whackadoo

Click to expand...

ROFL does not touch it....

We really liked 'As for me and my house' by Walter Wangerin Jr, and I found 'The Surrendered Wife' by Laura Doyle very helpful too (not a Christian book, but employs very biblical principles imho. Don't be put off by the title - she's a bit like Laura Schlessinger but less extreme and I found her writing style far less abrasive. Laura Schlessinger always sounds like she's shouting, to me!)

I've never read a marriage book that I thought was awful, though I've only read things that have been recommended to me by people whose marriages I admire. Some of them haven't been particularly relevant to our marriage, but there's always something useful in there that you can pick out and apply to yourselves. (Maybe if I read this Pearl book I'd change that opinion - it sounds pretty dire lol!)

I have never read a marriage book, nor will I.

Because they are the ideas of just ordinary people, like you or I, who have no deeper insight than you or I, so I think it better to work out my marriage with my husband, than try to wedge someone's round peg of a theory into a square hole that might develop in my marriage.