Marriages may be made in heaven but bonds are forged here on Earth! Marriage is a commitment, and a scary one at that. However long you have known your spouse-to-be before you tie the knot, how much ever you’re in love, you are almost guaranteed to discover wonderful and weird things about the person you’ve vowed to be with for life. You may find that your spouse has an obsession with vacuuming the house but never bothers to make the bed!

Nothing can prepare you for married bliss as well as the institution itself but thankfully, there are good books that can give you sound advice and help you have a smooth ride through this new phase of your life.

Related: Books to read before getting married

Here’s a check list of books you must read before getting married.

‘Drop The Ball’ By Tiffany Dufu

In this autobiographical narrative, author Tiffany Dufu describes her life after marriage and the number of adjustments she had to make. A high-performer with perfect As throughout her student life, at home, and at work, she realized that it wasn’t going to easy to keep that winning streak going after her marriage and child birth without her husband’s help.

“Drop the Ball” is an interesting story of how Tiffany and her husband reorganized and reshaped their lives to tackle the numerous daily tasks that have to be dealt with. Their conversations, Excel spreadsheets, and the dry cleaning story will give you a whole new idea of how to get thing done.

‘The Real Thing’ By Ellen Mccarthy

Ellen McCarthy was a wedding reporter with Washington Post and this is a book of the lessons on life and love she’d learnt from those four years of covering weddings and observing relationships. ‘The Real Thing’ was published in 2015 as the summation of her experience of interviewing over 200 couples.

The book has a breezy style but it also offers valuable insights – tips on how to handle the stress of planning and organizing a wedding and how strong relationships are formed. Marriage is not always a bed of roses. You have to be prepared to feel miserable, sometimes at least. The book gives you a real picture of marriage, its ups and downs.

‘Unfinished Business’ By Anne-Marie Slaughter

This book should be read by all those in the verge of getting married. It was inspired by an article in The Atlantic, by this author, entitled ‘Why Women Still Can’t Have It All’ in 2012. After serving as the first female director of policy planning in the US State Department, Slaughter went back to a career in academics at Princeton because she felt that her family needed her more.

This book was published in 2015. Slaughter argues, by citing anecdotes from her life and from research, that caregiving and parenting are not valued as contributions to society. She challenges the existing views on work and gender equality.

‘Chicken Soup For The Bride’s Soul’ By Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Maria Nickless

This book for the bride’s soul in the chicken soup series has a collection of heart-warming stories of love and laughter, and of commitment for a lifetime. Marriage is the most memorable day in a girl’s life and this book is a must-read for every bride-to-be. There are stories that will tug your heart, make you laugh, and have you sob silly. A lovely collection for anyone in love – bride or groom.

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