The Longest Date: Life as a Wife

Chupack (The Between Boyfriends Book) chronicles the ups and downs of marriage in this amusing collection of short, real-life stories. The comedy writer leaves no stone unturned, from how she met her eventual husband to his marriage proposal (on horseback), to their furniture arrangements and fertility issues. Some of the pieces are enlightening and funny—including vignettes of the two creating holiday traditions together and learning to cook—while others are vaguely crude, like the one about visiting a sex show in Thailand. All of them showcase what happens after “happily ever after,” revealing that marriage requires a lot of work. The collection is a nice read for a general audience—and especially for those who enjoyed Chupack’s work on TV shows such as Sex in the City, Everyone Loves Raymond, and Coach, and magazines such as Glamour and O, the Oprah Magazine. The pieces that touch on fertility issues deserve their own category: Chupack and her husband, who contributes one of his own essays to the collection, detail this often painful subject with both sorrow and hope—hope that is later rewarded as they become parents. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary Agency. (Jan.)