5 books that can help you have a happier marriage

• We rounded up books from a variety of experts that explain why marriage is so hard and how you can strengthen your relationship.
• The authors touch on topics including infidelity, personality clashes, and even time-management.
• Each one provides tips that you can implement starting today.

Marriage is complicated. That's a given.

So it helps to take a comprehensive look at the whole institution: When did we start having such high expectations for our partners? How do we fall for people who drive us crazy in the long run? Why in the world do we think about cheating if our relationship looks perfect?

The authors of the five books below — whose ranks include a psychotherapist, a productivity researcher, and a social psychologist — draw on their unique expertise to come up with some answers to these and other important questions. Their insights will help you look with fresh eyes at your own partnership and get inspired to change it for the better.

Read on for the books that will help strengthen your marriage.

SEE ALSO: 8 books to read before you get married

'The All-or-Nothing Marriage: How the Best Marriages Work' by Eli J. Finkel

This book breaks down into two parts: an exploration of the historical factors that make marriage so hard and a series of creative strategies for strengthening your relationship.

"All-or-nothing marriage" is the term Finkel — a social psychologist — and his colleagues developed to describe modern relationships. We're placing more expectations on our relationships than ever before — we want our partner to be our best friend, our lover, our intellectual sparring partner, maybe our co-parent — while simultaneously investing less time and energy in the relationship. The inevitable result is that we're disappointed.

What to do? Well, for one, consider asking less of your relationship. (Really!) Maybe your partner isn't the type to have philosophical debates late into the night; maybe you've got a friend who loves to do that.

Or, consider not asking so much of your relationship right now, if things are especially stressful. Maybe you just had a baby or maybe you're under a lot of pressure at work. Adjusting your expectations and being realistic about what the relationship can do for you at this point in time is key.

Find it here »

'The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity' by Esther Perel

Esther Perel is something of a celebrity couples therapist — she's the author of the bestselling book "Mating in Captivity," she's given hit TED Talks, and she's the host of an audio series titled, "Where Should We Begin?"

Now, Perel has sunk her teeth into the subject of cheating, drawing on 30 years of experience to explain everything from how a couple recovers from infidelity to why infidelity can occur even in seemingly happy relationships.

Perel is strikingly insightful. On the topic of why people in happy relationships cheat, she explains that it can be a form of "self-seeking," as opposed to an attempt to escape the other person. And on the topic of recovery from cheating, Perel says something good can come out of the process: the restoration of honesty and passion.

Regardless of whether you've been personally affected by infidelity — and Perel says most people have been — the book will make you rethink your understanding of human intimacy and relationships.

Find it here »

'The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too) by Gretchen Rubin

Rubin is another well-known voice in the self-improvement domain. She's the author of multiple bestselling books, including "The Happiness Project," and she hosts the podcast "Happier With Gretchen Rubin."

"The Four Tendencies" isn't about romantic relationships per se — instead it's a look at how your personality type affects your life in general. But Rubin does put these personality types in the relationship context, in order to help readers understand why they're attracted to certain people and why the same conflicts keep popping up with their partners.

For example, "obligers"— people who meet outer expectations but don't always meet inner ones — often pair up with "rebels"— who resist both inner and outer expectations. And while "upholders"— who meet both inner and outer expectations— may be initially attracted to rebels, eventually they'll start to clash. (All these labels get less confusing once you sit down to read the book.)

Rubin does a good job of helping readers become more tolerant of people who are different from them — especially if that person is their spouse — and of helping them figure out how to manage those differences effectively.

Find it here »