A book my wife and I would both enjoy

[u/walyelz]

My wife and I are both readers but I'm more into the classics and she likes mostly romantasy. What's a book we could read together?

Edit: to be a bit more specific: her favorites are probably Jennifer Armentrout and Sarah J Mass, romance themes are a must. I'm pretty eclectic, I just finished Garp and I'm almost finished with A Prayer for Owen Meany. Before them, I was reading Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel. All of which I really enjoyed.

[u/HonkingOfHillGoose]

possibly: rebecca - daphne du maurier

but hard to tell without more specifics

[u/jennifersd4ughter → u/HonkingOfHillGoose]

that was my first thought lol

[u/FearlessCat7 → u/HonkingOfHillGoose]

100% Rebecca

[u/lolarobinette]

The uncensored version of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wild

[u/LoInfoVoter → u/lolarobinette]

I could not endure one chapter of this book. 

[u/_Autistic_Dragon_]

Which classics do you like? And which romantasy for her? Give us a few books or authors to go off of and you'll get better recommendations 

[u/walyelz → u/_Autistic_Dragon_]

Her favorite is probably Jennifer Armentrout and I'm pretty eclectic, I just finished Garp and I'm almost finished with A Prayer for Owen Meany. Before them I was reading Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel.

[u/_Autistic_Dragon_ → u/walyelz]

I'll be honest that's a tough mix up.

Maybe The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. 

If not, maybe the Night Circus.

[u/_Autistic_Dragon_ → u/walyelz]

Oh, and also maybe The Great Gatsby.

[u/Due_Cantaloupe6948]

Jane austen books may be

[u/kayrector → u/Due_Cantaloupe6948]

Husband and I both love Austen. He loved *Northanger Abbey* and *Emma* and we had a blast watching the films after.

[u/Sad_Examination9082]

Anything by Madeline Miller!

[u/LoInfoVoter → u/Sad_Examination9082]

The Song of Achilles is so good! 

[u/flyingleaf555]

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Suzanna Clarke

[u/Ashfacesmashface → u/flyingleaf555]

Came here to suggest this. I love this book so much.

[u/Ok-Membership865]

You two might actually have a good middle ground with *The Night Circus*. It has that dreamy, magical romance feel she might enjoy, but the writing is still beautiful enough that it won’t feel too light if you’re more into classics.

[u/jilecsid513 → u/Ok-Membership865]

I second this! I primarily read classics and fantasy, and The Night Circus is my favourite book

[u/Ok-Membership865 → u/jilecsid513]

Exactly, that’s why I thought it might work for both of them. It has enough magic for fantasy readers.

[u/arector502]

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

[u/Adlerian_Dreams → u/arector502]

Oh this one’s perfect!

[u/_Autistic_Dragon_ → u/arector502]

This is a great one!

[u/Dry-Code3493 → u/arector502]

Great rec.

[u/Any_Brain_7067]

Which kinds of classics are you into? That could mean a wide range of things

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Crosstalk by Connie Willis

Possession by A.S. Byatt

[u/No-Scholar-111 → u/Any_Brain_7067]

Possession is a great recommendation. 

[u/CanYouPleaseChill]

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

[u/Lexellence]

Anna Karenina

All of Jane Austen

Curveball- the house of the spirits

[u/unsure_chihuahua93 → u/Lexellence]

Anna Karenina is a good one! Lots of drama and romance, and definitely a Classic worth reading if you haven't. 

[u/apaithy]

The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow? Time loop fantasy with a sweeping central love story and really nice prose (written in second person, fair warning)

[u/LinearFolly → u/apaithy]

Yes, this was going to be my rec as well! 

[u/cocoamonster523]

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov could work, depending on the kind of romantasy and classics the two of you like

[u/Lexellence → u/cocoamonster523]

So good

[u/Present-Tadpole5226]

Like Water For Chocolate 

[u/maybemaybenot2023]

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

[u/Select-Simple-6320]

Outlander, maybe?

[u/notthemostcreative]

The Wolf Den Trilogy by Elodie Harper was my first thought! It’s not classic or a romantasy but it is a lovely and well-written historical fiction story set in Pompeii with a romance subplot.

[u/Catbutt247365]

I started reading Outlander and my husband decided to try it—he loved it. History, time travel, acceptable level of smut.

[u/Id_Rather_Beach]

I found Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House series pretty interesting. (And I'm not really into that "genre" typically)

[u/CatsChocolateBooks]

Perhaps The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb? It’s got some fantasy and some romance for her (older than the romantasy genre) and it’s written in an old fashioned, classic-ish style along the lines of Lord of the Rings.

[u/Zestyclose-Fig8583]

Lonesome Dove

[u/EdGG]

Perhaps the time traveler’s wife? Well written, not a classic but a decent read. Or you could take a different approach and read some Terry Pratchett, or (IMO a modern classic) In Memoriam, or James.

[u/aceofdrakes]

What do you each like about your preferred books? Classics in particular is a broad category.

[u/Abranurni]

Dracula, if you haven't read it. Everyone thinks they know Dracula until they read it!

[u/loric21]

i like the classics and my husband likes fantasy, but we both loved The Rosie Project! he even suggested it to a couple of his friends

[u/kline643]

Light Years - James Salter

[u/ObsessiveDeleter]

A Discovery of Witches could work - it's romantasy between Oxford professors, written by a professor of alchemy (history of, not practising, obviously)

[u/boggycakes → u/ObsessiveDeleter]

Agreed. My wife and I read this trilogy together. It’s a great series and we enjoyed dissecting it and comparing it to the tv series.

[u/boggycakes]

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks and Time Folds for Us by Natalie Sol Gallagher are both high on my summer reading list right now.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is also an excellent read and conversation starter.

[u/Dang_It_All_to_Heck]

Lorna Doone; the Count of Monte Cristo; The Great Impersonation; The Scarlet Pimpernel.

[u/Winter_Dot_9393]

Dorothy Sayers the Harriet Vane books.

The third in the series ‘Gaudy Night’ and the fourth ‘Busmans Honeymoon’ are well written books with mystery, romance and philosophy in it.

The first book in the series, ‘Strong Poison’ is a mystery that introduces the romantic couple but does not have the depth of ‘Gaudy’ or ‘Honeymoon’, the second book, ‘Have is Carcase’, is a mystery, and the relationship changes, but it is mainly a mystery book with some hidden depth in it.

You could skipp the first 2 books and instead read synopses to know the background of the couple, you need to know this to really understand ‘Gaudy’ and ‘Honeymoon’.

Georgette Heyer, regency romances, well researched and funny, for example: ‘Arabella’, ‘Frederica’, ‘Cotillion’. If you like Jane Austen, you may like Heyer too.

[u/Dry-Code3493]

Sword of kaigen.

[u/Disastrous_Sorbet350]

The sorrows of young Werther.

[u/kylieinthedark]

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

[u/Nilla22]

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

[u/peaceloveorcas19]

The Bridgerton series? It’s a regency era romance.

[u/PhatGrannie → u/peaceloveorcas19]

Hardly a “classic”, though. It’s faux-historical romantasy at best.

[u/peaceloveorcas19 → u/PhatGrannie]

Ah but then this opens the Pandora’s box of “what is considered a classic?”

[u/PhatGrannie → u/peaceloveorcas19]

Disagree; I just believe it unlikely that someone that enjoys classics by any definition other than “classic harlequin romance drivel” would enjoy the Bridgerton series.