Nicholas Spark's books

[Kavya]

Hi all,
I have read two of Nicholas Sparks's books, A Walk to Remember and The Notebook, and now on to The Wedding.I dint like The Notebook more than the movie though I enjoyed A Walk to Remember as a book.
The first person narration style is indeed great with simple and straight sentences.
Do you think by the same idea of 'going back in time' to narrate a story, Sparks is setting a style of his own? Its not anything wrong in having a style, I agree, or should I consider not to comment without having read all of his books?
what do you think?

[Sujata]

Hi Kavya
I have read 5 of his books-true believer,message in a bottle,the wedding,a walk to remember, and the notebook.
I share your opinion about the movie adaptations of both the notebook and a walk to remember.and the message in a bottle's movie adaptation was bad to say the least.too much of liberty was taken with the plot.

going back in time or narrating stories in flashback mode isnt seen in every one of his books.its certainly not that unique because many authors use it.
Yes, Sparks has a style of his own-the setting of the story and the simple narration.the lilting type of writing lends his books an old world charm.that for me,makes it more believable i guess

[Atishay]

Kavya wrote: "Hi all,
I have read two of Nicholas Sparks's books, A Walk to Remember and The Notebook, and now on to The Wedding.I dint like The Notebook more than the movie though I enjoyed A Walk to Remember ..."

Hi Kavya
I've read - The Notebook, Message in a bottle and A Walk to remember. All of them were great hollywood style too good to be true romances but that's what Sparks does best. I enjoyed all of them but I'll have to say the movie adaptation of Message in a bottle was disappointing even with Kevin Costner in it. Notebook was a superb adaptation and so was A walk to remember.

And as far as his writing style is concerned, its not present in all his books. Message in a bottle was not in flashback I guess. But yeah, his style of expression is pretty much same in all his novels.

[Kavya]

Thank you Sujata and Thanks Atishay for sharing your views.

I thought of not wondering about it before reading all his books, but when I finished with 'The Wedding' and started with 'Nights in Rodanthe', that too sounded similar.. the flashback style....

And appears as if his novels are always meant to be made into movies... :)

[Atishay]

Yeah, too good to be true kind of romance stories.. made in hollywood heaven.

[[deleted user]]

Never heard of this author .. can I get a feel as to what kind.. Who would you describe as his best contemporary?

[Kavya]

Sowmya wrote: "Never heard of this author .. can I get a feel as to what kind.. Who would you describe as his best contemporary?
"
Hi Sowmya, Sparks's works are mostly romantic novels(as far as I know)

[[deleted user]]

Kavya wrote: "Sowmya wrote: "Never heard of this author .. can I get a feel as to what kind.. Who would you describe as his best contemporary?
"
Hi Sowmya, Sparks's works are mostly romantic novels(as far as I k..."

K

[Ahtims]

I too have read Nicholas Spark books, but somehow I feel it drags out a lot - the best I liked was Message in a Bottle, my least favourite is the Wedding.

[Atishay]

I second that. Message in a bottle was the best Sparks book I've read.

[Sujata]

I also loved the Message In a Bottle.A close second is A Walk To remember.My least favorite was the wedding for a while but now its replaced by at first sight ,the sequel to true believer which has put me off Sparks for good.

[Muddle head]

A walk to remember is the best of his works IMO. The transforming power of love, the optimistic portrayal, though a tragedy, it never was depressing reading through the book! I shud say the movie is hopeless compared to the book, maybe they tried too hard to set the story in modern times!

Cudn't actually get myself to read his other works for a long time. And then i came across The Last Song. I liked the way father-daughter relationship is shown here. I shud say this is a far more depressing read. Always dark...right through the end.

I think Nicholas Sparks is quite an expert in handling romance..

[Muddle head]

Kavya wrote: "Hi all,
I have read two of Nicholas Sparks's books, A Walk to Remember and The Notebook, and now on to The Wedding.I dint like The Notebook more than the movie though I enjoyed A Walk to Remember ..."

Sorry Kavya, missed the main question of this topic earlier. Now i read it more keenly and then remembered The Last Song which is the latest of Sparks' that i read. To be frank, i didn't much like the way flashback is handled in this novel. I mean the way the story actually moved from the present to the past and then back to the present wasn't at all interesting, was a bit too plain for my liking. The novel gains considerable emotional baggage towards the end, but in the beginning, when the flashback was abt to start, i had no clue at all. *SPOILER ALERT* Well i wouldn't like to know the girl's dad is gonna die, but i really didn't feel the emotions strong enough!

Though i read 'a walk to remember' a long while ago i cudnt recollect any such displeasure back then..

[[deleted user]]

I love reading books by nicholas sparks and my favourites are a walk to remember,the last song and also message in a bottle.I didn't like first sight and the wedding at all and to be true they were kind of really boring.

[Sujaritha]

The first read of any of his books is always a pleasure. But further reading of his other books would reveal a recurring theme. All his protaganists seem to be the purest of souls but are prone to the most tragic events in life. I believe 'Love Story' by Eric Segal was probably the trendsetter.

[Meenakshi]

I know it will be rude but I don't like Nicholas Sparks actually romance is not my thing!!

[Ahtims]

Even I don't like Nicholas Sparks books. Message in a bottle was the only book which I liked; rest seemed so so...

[Meenakshi]

Message in a bottle and A walk to remember were both nice

[Divya Lavanya]

I feel that sparks novels are too sappy and too good to be true novels but loved "three weeks with my brother". It is kind of his autobiography. Atleast it's based on reality.

[Sherin]

Seems A Walk to Remember is also based on true events.

[Meenakshi]

@Sherin really???

[Neelashi]

Atishay wrote: "I second that. Message in a bottle was the best Sparks book I've read."

Have you also seen the movie?

[♫♫RiTA♫♫]

the notebook was the best..!!!!......he is an amazing writer.

[Neelashi]

RiTA wrote: "the notebook was the best..!!!!......he is an amazing writer."

I LOVE THE MOVIE ALSO! so emotional and cute! =]

[Laurna]

I have read many Nicholas Sparks books and loved most of them!

Here goes my list:
and a few others...

Among these I liked A Walk to Remember and The Notebook best..!!

[Neha]

Even though this thread has been dormant for some time, thought would ask for a recommendation.

I read A walk to Remember recently and loved it. Cried like a baby, and yet was happy with the book. (yes I cry a lot while reading emotional reads)

So now, I ask for a recommendation for which Nicholas Sparks should I read next.

[Laurna]

Claussius wrote: "Even though this thread has been dormant for some time, thought would ask for a recommendation.

I read A walk to Remember recently and loved it. Cried like a baby, and yet was happy with the book...."

I would suggest you to read The Notebook...it's simply amazing...!!

[Parikhit]

I read True Believer years ago. Its nice.

[Neha]

Thanks Laurna & Parikhit. Will pick up both :)

[Laurna]

Claussius wrote: "Thanks Laurna & Parikhit. Will pick up both :)"

Your most welcome....!:D

[Ritu]

walk to remember all the way <3