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Nicholas Sparks

Goodreads author profile

url

http://www.goodreads.com/NicholasSparks

born

in Omaha, Nebraska, The United States

gender

male

website

http://www.nicholassparks.com/

twitter username

SparksNicholas

genre

Literature & Fiction, Romance

member since

April 2012

About this author

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As a child, Nicholas Sparks lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska, finally settling in Fair Oaks, California at the age of eight. His father was a professor, his mother a homemaker, then optometrist's assistant. He lived in Fair Oaks through high school, graduated valedictorian in 1984, and received a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.

After breaking the Notre Dame school record as part of a relay team in 1985 as a freshman (a record which still stands), he was injured and spent the summer recovering. During that summer, he wrote his first novel, though it was never published. He majored in Business Finance and graduated with high honors in 1988.

He and his wife Catherine, who met on spring break in...more As a child, Nicholas Sparks lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska, finally settling in Fair Oaks, California at the age of eight. His father was a professor, his mother a homemaker, then optometrist's assistant. He lived in Fair Oaks through high school, graduated valedictorian in 1984, and received a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.

After breaking the Notre Dame school record as part of a relay team in 1985 as a freshman (a record which still stands), he was injured and spent the summer recovering. During that summer, he wrote his first novel, though it was never published. He majored in Business Finance and graduated with high honors in 1988.

He and his wife Catherine, who met on spring break in 1988, were married in July, 1989. While living in Sacramento, he wrote his second novel that same year, though again, it wasn't published. He worked a variety of jobs over the next three years, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone, and started his own small manufacturing business which struggled from the beginning. In 1990, he collaborated on a book with Billy Mills, the Olympic Gold Medalist and it was published by Feather Publishing before later being picked up by Random House. (It was recently re-issued by Hay House Books.) Though it received scant publicity, sales topped 50,000 copies in the first year of release.

He began selling pharmaceuticals and moved from Sacramento, California to North Carolina in 1992. In 1994, at the age of 28, he wrote The Notebook over a period of six months. In October, 1995, rights to The Notebook were sold to Warner Books. It was published in October, 1996, and he followed that with Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), and Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), Three Weeks with my Brother (2004), True Believer (2005) and At First Sight (2005) all with Warner Books. All were domestic and international best sellers and were translated into more than 35 languages. The movie version of Message in a Bottle was released in 1999, A Walk to Remember was released in 2002, and The Notebook was released in 2004. The average domestic box office gross per film was $56 million -- with another $100 million in DVD sales -- making the novels by Nicholas Sparks one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood.

The film rights to Nights in Rodanthe, True Believer and At First Sight have been sold, and Nicholas Sparks has written the screenplay for The Guardian, though he has not offered it for sale at this point.

He now has five children: Miles, Ryan, Landon, Lexie, and Savannah. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and children.

His ancestry is German, Czech, English, and Irish, he's 5'10" and weighs 180 lbs. He is an avid athlete who runs daily, lifts weights regularly, and competes in Tae Kwon Do. He attends church regularly and reads approximately 125 books a year. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually.(less)

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Nicholas Sparks's Books

Average rating: 3.97 · 1,981,696 ratings · 78,438 reviews · 36 distinct works · Similar authors

	The Notebook 3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 avg rating — 582,050 ratings — published 1996 — 113 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Walk to Remember 4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 avg rating — 218,458 ratings — published 1999 — 86 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dear John 3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 184,981 ratings — published 2006 — 77 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Song 4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 avg rating — 175,732 ratings — published 2009 — 55 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Lucky One 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 98,127 ratings — published 2008 — 60 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Message in a Bottle 3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 96,031 ratings — published 1998 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wedding 3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 avg rating — 78,588 ratings — published 2003 — 50 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Safe Haven 4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 avg rating — 74,674 ratings — published 2010 — 67 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Guardian 4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 avg rating — 71,660 ratings — published 2003 — 60 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Rescue 4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 avg rating — 71,355 ratings — published 2000 — 59 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Nicholas Sparks…

Series by Nicholas Sparks

The Notebook (2 books)
by Nicholas Sparks (Goodreads Author)
3.962255607900503 of 5 stars 3.96 avg rating — 660,363 ratings

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Nicholas Sparks is now following Christopher Moore's reviews
08 mag. 13:21
Nicholas Sparks is now following Nelson DeMille's reviews
15 ott. 13:17
Nicholas Sparks rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
If you have yet to read this wonderful novel, do yourself a favor and do so. It's original and captivating, and I simply adored Enzo (the narrator ... who also happens to be a dog). It tells the story of a particular family, with twists and turns tha...more
17 sett. 10:07 · see review
Nicholas Sparks rated a book 5 of 5 stars Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This has to be one of my favorite books of the last few years. It's non-fiction, but it reads like a thrilling adventure, complete with a high-octane conclusion, all with a bit of science thrown in. It's a fantastic look at the sport of ultra-distanc...more
17 sett. 10:06 · see review
Nicholas Sparks rated a book 5 of 5 stars Lisey's Story by Stephen King	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
It's a "love story" done "Stephen King" style and so perfectly done that my first thought after finishing was to read the novel a second time. The characters are so genuine and universal that everyone will love them, and the story is both magical and...more
10 sett. 11:13 · see review
Nicholas Sparks rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is a book about ocean waves, and I can already hear what some people might be thinking: Why on earth would I care about that? I had the same thought when I first picked it up; hours later, after reading the book in a single sitting, I realized t...more
20 ago. 06:54 · see review
Nicholas Sparks rated a book 5 of 5 stars Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Quite simply, this is one of the best novels of the year. It's a thriller in the best tradition of Alfred Hitchcock and layered with brilliantly written characters; it's the kind of book that's nearly impossible to put down. The surprises and twists...more
02 ago. 06:44 · see review
Nicholas Sparks is now following Joseph Kanon's reviews
31 lug. 10:53
Nicholas Sparks rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Twelve (The Passage, #2) by Justin Cronin	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was fortunate enough to receive an advance readers copy of The Twelve, by Justin Cronin. It's a follow-up to one of the better novels I've read in the last few years -- The Passage -- and it's to be published later this fall. Best of all, The Twelv...more
19 lug. 06:29 · see review
Nicholas Sparks rated a book 5 of 5 stars Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The best novel of all time.
21 giu. 06:13 · see review

More of Nicholas's books…

Quotes by Nicholas Sparks

“I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough..”
― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

tags: love

16,126 people liked it

“Love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it.”
― Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember

tags: love, simile

13,436 people liked it

“So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday.”
― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

tags: love, marriage

11,023 people liked it

See all Nicholas Sparks's quotes »

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