Saturday, May 21, 2011

How Well Do You Know Your Spouse's Book Preferences?


Phil and I often make mistakes when picking books for each other. If you had to describe the sort of book your spouse or significant other likes with three or four adjectives, what would they be?

I would pick well-written, quirky, foreign setting, twist ending for Phil's taste.

Phil says I like books with crimes, marriages, U.S. setting, contemporary. I do not necessarily agree with his assessment. I often like foreign settings, for instance, and I would say relationships rather than marriages.

How about you?

10 comments:

George said...

Diane likes books written by women with strong women characters. They can be mysteries or romantic comedies or memoirs.

Anonymous said...

Patti - Oh, interesting question! Hmm.. for my husband, I would say science fiction with an emphasis on accurate science, and certain kinds of political humour books. He'd probably choose a police procedural or other good crime fiction for me, and he'd probably be pretty well on target. We've been together for a l-o-n-g time, and we've both always been readers. So I think we've gotten used to each other's tastes.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I think part of the problem in picking out books for Phil is he likes to discover a book. As for me, my TBR pile is so massive it's like throwing pearls to a swine.

Deb said...

My husband prefers to read non-fiction, especially those with a political/historical theme. When it comes to fiction, he likes classic mysteries with twist endings. Compilations from the old Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen magazines are some of his favorites. Unless I'm absolutely sure he's mentioned wanting to read a particular book, I let him do his own choosing--and he returns the favor regarding books for me.

Charles Gramlich said...

Lana mostly reads nonfiction and safe bets are anything about birds, or about Pink Floyd.

Anonymous said...

I know pretty well, a she reads one genre, one sub-genre of it and one type within that. Period. Mystery, thriller, serial killer with twisted psychotic personality. So I'd say dark, serial killer, procedural, scary.

Ron Scheer said...

Anything by Henning Mankell. That would be crime fiction, plus 4 other adjectives that describe whatever it is he does so well...

Anonymous said...

I have a pretty good record picking books for Jackie: quirky, sense of humor, Navy SEALs, paranormals, sex.

Jeff M.

Todd Mason said...

I've guessed usually Not Too Wrong for my spousal approximates...but only occasionally Right Spot On.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I can pick a book completely suitable to Phil's tastes and interests and it just won't hit him at the right moment. He only gets me coffee table type books because the chances are too high I have either read it or tried unsuccessfully to read it.
Now who is the more annoying.