LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Not wishing to lead by example, Tim Dowling, does however have over 20 years of husbandly experience to offer those who would like to ask; Tim, how can I be a good husband? Guardian readers and ardent followers of Tim Dowling’s column will have some inkling of what to expect, others can start here for an answer to marital accord/discord written with some (light) black humour, wit and warmth.
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How to Be a Husband Synopsis
The much-loved Guardian columnist asks what it takes to make a husband, and looks to his own married life to provide the answer.* *Anything resembling advice should be taken at reader's own risk. You'll never get divorced if you never get married. Not even your granny minds if you live in sin anymore. And if you're single you can choose curtains without somebody else butting in. So why bother with marriage? It can't just be an easy way round having to buy your own deodorant. Guardian columnist Tim Dowling is a husband of some twenty years. His marriage is resounding proof that even the most impossible partnership can work out for the best. Some of the time. So while this book is called 'How To be a Husband', it's not really a how-to guide at all. Nor is it a compendium of petty remarks and brinkmanship - although it contains plenty of both. You may pick up a few DIY hints. You might learn that while marriage is founded on love, it endures through bloody hard work. Most likely it will make you whimper with the laughter of painful recognition. 'How To be a Husband' is a cautionary tale about throwing caution to the wind. It's the strange romance of two people consenting to share a roll-on. It's a new manifesto for marriage and an answer to why, even when we suck at it, we stick at it.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780007527687 |
| Publication date: |
9th April 2015 |
| Author: |
Tim Dowling |
| Publisher: |
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
304 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Non-Fiction Books of the Month
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Press Reviews
Tim Dowling Press Reviews
'You'll whoosh through this book with cheery hoots of laughter... Dowling's a very fresh and smart writer... There's a proper laugh every couple of pages... But as well as being funny, which he has to be, Dowling is sometimes plangent... and he is more often than not wise... there's pleasure and treasure here'
Sam Leith, Guardian
'There's no denying [HOW TO BE A HUSBAND'ss] enormous readability ... Dowling's frequently hilarious Bildungsroman, detailing his evolution from feckless layabout to equally feckless husband and father, offers wisdom, insight and laugh-out-loud one-liners in equal measure ... Gloriously entertaining'
Alexander Larman, Observer
'This isn't a self-help book ... What [Dowling] has done, effectively, is invent an entirely new genre in literature: that of the self-hinder book ... A rare delight.'
Spectator
'Less a self-help than a self-hinder book, the Guardian columnist's account of how he has coped with the challenges of matrimony (answer: badly) should really be called How Not To Be a Husband. It only makes one joke, but it makes it extremely well.'
Thomas Hodgkinson, Spectator, Books of the Year
'A charming book that claims erroneously, not to be a self-help guide. I've read it. My wife has read it. Divorce has been postponed, at least to Boxing Day.'
Sunday Times, Books of the Year
Author
About Tim Dowling
Journalist Tim Dowling was born in Connecticut and moved to the UK at the age of 29. He is the author of 4 books (so far) including a novel, 'The Giles Wareing Haters' Club'. His popular weekly Guardian column has charted the ups and downs of family life, and his largely unsuccessful attempts to be recognised as a competent father and husband, combining self-deprecating humour with a perverse optimism.
Author photo © Sam Riley
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