Literary Wives

Literary Wives is a virtual book club—a group of bloggers who noticed some time ago that there are a lot of books lately about wives. Quarterly we read a book about wives and marriage and incorporate the answers to a question into our reviews, following by a discussion:

What does this book say about wives or about the experience of being a wife?

You can participate by reading along with us and posting your comments or links to your reviews on any of our blogs or our new Facebook page.

The Books

• 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
• February 2014: The Inquisitor’s Wife by Jeanne Kalogridis
• 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 Melanie Benjamin
• 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
• August 2017: On Beauty by Zadie Smith
• October 2017: Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
• December 2017: A Lady and Her Husband by Amber Reeves
• February 2018: The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt
• April 2018: The Headmaster’s Wife by Thomas Christopher Green
• June 2018: Stay With Me by Ayòbámi Adébáyò
• August 2018: First Love by Gwendolyn Riley
• October 2018: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
• December 2018: The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve
• February 2019: They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
• April 2019: Wait for Me, Jack by Addison Jones
• June 2019:  A Separation by Katie Kitamura
• August 2019: Ties by Domenico Starnone
• October 2019: Happenstance by Carol Shields
• December 2019: The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
• March 2020: War of the Wives by Tamar Cohen
• June 2020: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• September 2020: Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen
• December 2020: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
• March 2021: Every Note Played by Lisa Genova
• June 2021: Monogamy by Sue Miller
• September 2021: The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
• December 2021: The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
• March 2022: I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán
• June 2022: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
• September 2022: Red Island House by Andrea Lee
• December 2022: State of the Union by Nick Hornsby
• March 2023: His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
• June 2023: The Harpy by Megan Hunter
• September 2023: Sea Wife by Amity Gaige
• December 2023: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
• March 2024: Mrs. March by Virginia Feito
• June 2024: Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
• September 2024: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

The Wives

Lynn

Lynn of Smoke and Mirrors

Lynn is an avid reader, former Borders bookseller, and now blogger of books and reviews! She is mother to 3 sons, grandmother of 11 grandchildren, companion to one beautiful and “purr”fect gray kitty, Smokie, as well as 4 other sweet felines… Most importantly, she can count one of the kindest, most caring, and complex men she’s ever known as her full-time partner and husband.

Naomi of Consumed By Ink

Naomi

Once upon a time, Naomi worked as a biologist, math tutor, and early childhood educator. Since then, she has been happily reading bedtime stories to three eager listeners, and hopes this will never change. She loves traveling around the Canadian Maritimes with her family, visiting the used book stores and bakeries.

Rebecca of Bookish Beck

Rebecca

Rebecca relocated from Maryland to England 15 years ago. She’s a freelancer, proofreading science articles for BookBrowse, Bookmarks, Shelf Awareness, the Times Literary Supplement, and more. Between work, blogging, and volunteering at the library, she is kneedeep in books, and most often to be found reading with a cat on her lap. She and her husband have just bought their first home and plan to make a library room with built-in shelves and a window seat.

And me, Kay of whatmeread.

Kay

Kay is a long-time professional technical writer (now retired—yippee!) who has taught composition and technical-writing courses at the college level. She loves reading all kinds of books. When she recently got an iPad and spent some hours playing games, her husband thought she’d undergone a personality change. But soon she was back to reading. She is the secret author of three (sadly unpublished) trashy romance novels.