This week on So You Think You’re an Adult, one woman asked for advice on getting her husband to read less in bed.

“My husband has taken to reading in bed a lot,” she told Moncrieff.

“Bed used to be our place, where we would have great chats, great sex and great laughs, but now it’s become a library.

“To be honest with you, I tiptoe around the bedroom because the atmosphere is so quiet.

“He sits up in bed usually with a large hardback history book focusing intently.

“The books have become part of the bed and some of them are so large that they actually take up valuable real estate in our small double.

“I’ve tried to coax him out of his books, but he will chat with me briefly before returning to the book.

“I feel I’m secondary to the books – I've thought about bringing a book ban into the bedroom, but I don’t want to create a row.

“How can I get him to change?”

Man lying in a bed with white linen, reading. Image: Mint Images Limited. 8 October 2015

Broadcaster Barbara Scully questioned whether this issue was specific to the husband’s reading habits.

“The problem isn’t the books, the problem is the lack of what she’s missing – the chats, the laughs, the sex,” she said.

“I think that’s got really very little to do with the books; that probably existed and then he took up reading.

“I don’t know any man who’d prefer to have his head in a history book than his head somewhere else.

“So, my advice – don't ban the books, but you need to have a chat with him about why everything else is missing.

“Because it’s quite possible to be an avid reader in bed and still have sex and chats and laughs as well.”

Demand for attention

However, TV personality Declan Buckley said he sees this more as an issue of people expecting their partners to always adhere to their schedule.

“I do think there’s an issue here about on demand; it’s about when it’s happening is the thing here,” he said.

“It’s like when your partner’s on the phone and you’ve just put the phone down two seconds ago and he’s always on the phone.”

Main image: Middle Aged Couple In Bed Together With Man Reading Book. Image: MBI. 8 July 2013