Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Two books written by real-life partners or spouses

My very first thought was Michelle Obama: Becoming or The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times
AND
Barack Obama: A Promised Land, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, Renegades: Born in the USA (with Bruce Springsteen), Barack Obama in His Own Words

There also Bill Clinton and Hilary Clinton, and I'm sure many more of which I am unaware! Help us build the Listopia!

Listopia: Two books written by real-life partners or spouses

Tabitha King and Zelda Fitzgerald both wrote books, but I haven't been able to find either yet.

There is Mary Shelley and her poet husband Percy Bysshe Shelley

Or if you hate this prompt:

Margret and H. A. Rey wrote Curious George and Stan and Jan Berenstain wrote all those bear books.

Judith Reeves-Stevens and Garfield Reeves-Stevens are married co-writers who I think are fantastic.

They're not together anymore, but Jim Butcher and his ex-wife Shannon K. Butcher are both writers.

There's Stephen King and his wife Tabitha King. Also Diane Duane and Peter Morwood for the Star Trek fans.

Ilona Andrews is a husband-wife team, so you could maybe read two of their books and call it good?

Since it doesn't say it has to be romantic partners, so maybe any books by authors who have written together or been writing partners in the past could work.

My first thought was F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald. She wrote a book called Save Me the Waltz.

Steven Rowley and Byron Lane are a couple who have written excellent books including The Guncle and Big Gay Wedding

I'm doing a poetry book by Marge Piercy, and You're Married to Her?, a memoir by Ira Wood. Should be interesting: she's written many poems about him, and now I get to see the relationship from his point of view.

There's also Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. Per Wikipedia, Sackville-West also wrote books about gardening.

I'm going to read:
One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon
and
City of Orange or Frankly in Love by David Yoon

I'm excited!


Hopefully everyone contributing to the Listopia is adding a note connecting the partners when they add books, because not everyone conveniently has the same last name like the Yoons!

If you're a classic fantasy fan, David Eddings has stated that his wife Leigh Eddings should have been credited as a co-author on all his books. (Del Rey wouldn't go with it, so she is only credited on his last few books, when he had the sway to insist.)

So any two of his books would count if you're going with the co-author interpretation. If you're a big fan of epic fantasy, the Belgariad was influential in shaping the course of the genre.

I'm getting an itch to reread Belgarath and Polgara, so I may hold off until January and count them.

Belgariad Universe:
Belgarath the Sorcerer
Polgara the Sorceress
Pawn of Prophecy
Queen of Sorcery
Magician's Gambit
Castle of Wizardry
Enchanters' End Game
Guardians of the West
King of the Murgos
Demon Lord of Karanda
Sorceress of Darshiva
Seeress of Kell

Elenium and Tamuli
The Diamond Throne
The Ruby Knight
The Sapphire Rose
Domes of Fire
The Shining Ones
The Hidden City

The Dreamers
The Elder Gods
The Treasured One
Crystal Gorge
The Younger Gods

Standalone:
The Redemption of Althalus

Also, the prompt as written does not specify romantic partners, just "real life partners", so business partners or writing partners would also qualify under that interpretation.

The first group that comes to mind is the Writing Excuses crew, which is Dan Wells, Erin Roberts, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Brandon Sanderson. Books by any two of them would count.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning both have published works. Solo and their letters to each other have been published.

My immediate thought for this one was Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick, and fortunately each of the two has at least one book I haven't read yet so I'll likely go with them.

I'm going to read

The Sea Is My Brother by Jack Kerouac
Nobody's Wife: The Smart Aleck and the King of Beats by Joan Havert Kerouac

Married/Spouses:

Danzy Senna - Colored Television

Percival Everett - James or Erasure

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Nicola Griffith - Hild and many others

Kelley Eskridge - Solitaire: A Novel

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I am going with these Italian writers:

Elsa Morante - Lies and Sorcery

Alberto Moravia - Contempt

The Vita Nostra trilogy is written by a couple. Maybe I can read one of their other books and This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me since the prompt wording allows for two completely separate couples.

Karen wrote: "Married/Spouses:

Danzy Senna - Colored Television

Percival Everett - James or Erasure

------------------------------..."



I did not know that!!! I love Everett's books. (I DNF'ed Colored Television LOL)

Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne

Ruth wrote: "My immediate thought for this one was Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick, and fortunately each of the two has at least one book I haven't read yet so I'll lik..."

Thank you for this suggestion! It's perfect!

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There are some books that have been co-written by spouses Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. This includes various books in the Valdemar series:

Mage Wars

The Black Gryphon
The White Gryphon
The Silver Gryphon

Owl Mage

Owlsight
Owlflight
Owlknight

Kelvren's Saga

Gryphon in Light
Gryphon's Valor

Additionally, two of the Elves on the Road series:
SERRAted Edge Series

1. Born to Run
4. Chrome Circle

I'm going to read by Paul Auster and by Siri Hustvedt.

Ruth wrote: "My immediate thought for this one was Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick"

Other sapphic writing couples include:
- Mae Marvel, which is the name that Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare use when they write together, but they've also published separately
- Haley Cass and Monica McCallan
- Roslyn Sinclair and Carrie Byrd

Author Lars Kepler is a pseudonym for a husband/wife team. . Excellent murder mystery/crime thrillers.

I've also read a lot of Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman

Angie wrote: "Ruth wrote: "My immediate thought for this one was Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick"

Other sapphic writing couples include:
- Mae Marvel,..."

Oh I didn't know about those, thank you!

Chrissie wrote: "Author Lars Kepler is a pseudonym for a husband/wife team. . Excellent murder mystery/crime thrillers.

I've also read a lot of Jonathan Kellerman and [author:Faye K..."

Thanks for mentioning the Kellermans, Chrissie. I have 3 books by Faye and one by Jonathan on my home shelves. I think that will take care of my choices for these prompts.

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.

Jane Thynne and Philip Kerr

Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier are married and both have written some excellent YA books

I am going to read The White Album by Joan Didion and Quintana & friends by John Gregory Dunne

Ilona Andrews is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. Their Innkeeper Chronicles series is really good! The first two books are Clean Sweep and Sweep in Peace.

They've also written a couple other series, but I haven't had a chance to read them yet.

Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick are married and have co-written at least three books together.

K.L. wrote: "Ilona Andrews is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. Their Innkeeper Chronicles series is really good! The first two books are Clean Sweep and ..."

I read Clean Sweep earlier this year and loved it, so Sweep in Peace it is!

I'm thinking my easiest path to entry will be two famous people that are married and have memoirs out, or self help books out.

Chip and Joanna Gaines come to mind.

Britany wrote: "I'm thinking my easiest path to entry will be two famous people that are married and have memoirs out, or self help books out.

Chip and Joanna Gaines come to mind."

That reminds me of Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks, which is a grief memoir after losing her husband, Tony Horwitz, also an author.

If extending the term partners to include writing partners and not just romantic and/or life partners, the below pairs could work:

James S.A. Corey is a pseudonym for two authors.
Christina Lauren also a pseudonym for two authors.
The Talisman and Black House might be a fun duology for this prompt, cowritten by Stephen King and Peter Straub.
Stephen king also cowrote with Richard Chizmar on the Gwendy’s Button Box trilogy.
There’s also the thriller writers Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

I'm planning to read
The Flower Bearers- Rachel Eliza Griffiths
The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories- Salman Rushdie

Here's an easy one: Jerry and Eileen Spinelli. Jerry writes middle grade, Eileen writes picture boos.

There's also John and Sarah Greene. John writes YA and non-fiction, Sarah is an artist who turned one project into a book: You Are an Artist: Assignments to Spark Creation

Sarah wrote: "James S.A. Corey is a pseudonym for two authors."

But those authors aren't partners or spouses. They both have wives, who are also good friends.

Unless we're extending partners to include business/writing partners, of course, but I was assuming it meant life partners or at least long-term dating.

Just a heads up for those looking for Hillary Clinton, she includes her maiden name in her author name. So the name you're looking for is Hillary Rodham Clinton.

On her writing, I loved State of Terror. Nothing like using your experiences to come up with strong characters.

Simone de Beauvoir -

The Mandarins or Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

and Jean-Paul Sartre - Nausea or No Exit and Three Other Plays

The Mandarins and Nausea are part of the Boxall 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list - if you are working on that.

For graphic novel people Molly Knox Ostertag (The Deep Dark, The Girl from the Sea is married to ND Stephenson (Nimona,Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy)

Sasha wrote: "Sarah wrote: "James S.A. Corey is a pseudonym for two authors."

But those authors aren't partners or spouses. They both have wives, who are also good friends.

Unless we're extend..."

Yeah sorry, I’ll edit my post to clarify. I was going with the “writing partner” interpretation of the prompt. There were a few other messages noting they might interpret it that way so I thought it was okay.

Have no idea if either book was any good, but if you're into exes trashing each other, there's Bad as I Wanna Be by Dennis Rodman and Worse Than He Says He Is: Or White Girls Don't Bouce : My Walk on the Wild Side With Dennis Rodman by Anicka Rodman.

Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka are married and have written at least 10 romance novels together.
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For those that just want to get through it quickly--- you can always go with any of the early Berenstain Bears children book. They were written by husband and wife team, Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Sarah wrote: "Yeah sorry, I’ll edit my post to clarify. I was going with the “writing partner” interpretation of the prompt. There were a few other messages noting they might interpret it that way so I thought it was okay."

Pretty much any interpretation of prompts is okay here, dw! I was just confused! I thought the earlier comments were talking about spouses/life partners who happened to co-author two or more books together, rather than co-authors where writing together *is* the partnership, if you see what I mean. But I could be wrong. Don't let me stop anyone reading James S A Corey if they really want to, their books are great.

Dea wrote: "If you're a classic fantasy fan, David Eddings has stated that his wife Leigh Eddings should have been credited as a co-author on all his books. (Del Rey wouldn't go with it, so she is only credite..."

I read these in high school (90s), I really liked them but I'm not sure if they stand the test of time. I'll see if I can find the first two as well to see :)

ETA: spoke too soon, my library does not have the first two, though since they are technically speaking prequels that came out after, I guess that's why? They do have the first two books of the Belgariad from the 80s Pawn of Prophecy and Queen of Sorcery as audiobooks so I'll try those.

Karen wrote: "Simone de Beauvoir -

The Mandarins or Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

and Jean-Paul Sartre - Nausea or [book:No Exit and Three ..."

Oh brilliant, I was planning The Mandarins for fruit prompt and did not know Simone was with Jean-Paul!

A couple more writing couples:
Zadie Smith- Nick Laird
Paul Yoon- Laura van den Berg
Michael Chabon- Ayelet Waldman
Tahereh Mafi- Ransom Riggs

Paul Auster and Siri Husvedt

Oh thanks! I’ve been wanting to read Nimona for a while!!

Joanna G wrote: "For graphic novel people Molly Knox Ostertag (The Deep Dark, The Girl from the Sea is married to ND Stephenson (Nimona,[book:Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Be..."

Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders are IRL partners

Jessica wrote: "Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders are IRL partners"

Thanks for this reminder. I didn't get round to Lessons in Magic and Disaster this year, and now I just discovered Automatic Noodle by Annalee which sounds cute.