Melanie Shankle is a blogger. In fact, she’s the blogger I want to be. I don’t want her life; I’m perfectly content with mine, thank you very much. But I want her ability to look at her life and find the laughter in her everyday activities. Her blog address is www.thebigmamablog.com.

Shankle is a 30-something wife and the mother of a daughter. Her first book, which I haven’t yet read, is Sparkly Green Earrings, and focuses on being a mom. The Antelope in the Living Room is (as it is subtitled) “the real story of two people sharing one life.” The story of her marriage, which is, in many ways, the story of all marriages.

Far from being astounded by the divorce rate, I have always instead wondered how any marriage can be successful. Thankfully, though, many (mine included) are. But you take two people, who may or may not have a lot in common, from two families, which often have very little in common, combine them, shake  up the concoction, and pour into a frosty glass. Out comes what is hopefully a good and fulfilling marriage.

Shankle’s husband, Perry, is Any Man. Well, at least, despite the age difference, he could be Bill. Let’s face it. Men just look at life differently than women. The book is a series of stories about funny times in their marriage, and over and over again I would think, “My God, that could be Bill.”

The stories – largely because Shankle is one of the funniest writers EVER – are absolutely hilarious. A few of them resulted in me having to literally stop and put the book down so that I could just laugh. Somehow it’s so much funnier to read about someone coming home to find an antelope head hanging in their living room than it is to come home and find my garage has been turned into a man cave.

Shankle, as a devout Christian, is dedicated to maintaining a successful and loving relationship with her husband, but that doesn’t mean she can’t look at situations and see how funny they are. And make her readers laugh. And she doesn’t present her husband in a negative light at all. This is as far from a husband-bashing book as you can get. On the contrary, her love for her husband is apparent on each page. She simply sees the humor in some of the situations that arise in every marriage.

Not sure this would be a great book club read, though it is a book that I would love to talk about with friends. Also not sure if this is a book that single women would enjoy, and certainly not a book for men. But I can’t recommend The Antelope in the Living Room more strongly to those of you who are married and often have to remind yourself how much you love your husband.