Ever wanted a good cry while reading a book? Or wanted to get all mushy on a Winter night locked inside? The Notebook, a forever classic is just the book for that.

The Author

Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s favorite authors. All of his books have been New York Best Sellers,  Sparks sold over 105 million copies worldwide in over 50 languages. Sparks sold over 75 million copies in the United States of America.

His best known book, The Notebook was written over a six month period at 28 in 96′. Following the release of the, The Notebook, Sparks released a number of novels. In chronological order, Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1998), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the road (2001), Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), the Wedding (2003), True Believer (2005) and it’s sequel, At First Sight (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice (2007), The Lucky One (2008), The Last Song (2009), Safe Haven (2010), The Best of Me (2011), The Longest Ride (2013),  See Me (2015), Two by Two (2016), Every Breath (2018), The Return (2020), The Wish (2021), and Dreamland released on September 20, 2022.

Several of his Movies became film adaptations. Sparks currently lives in North Carolina, he contributes to charities national or local and is a important contributor to the Creative Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame, there he provides internships, scholarships, and fellowship annually.In 2006 Sparks co-founded the Epiphany School in New Bern, North Carolina.

The Nicholas Sparks Foundation, a non profit founded in 2011. Made to help the disadvantaged youth get scholarships and fund educational programs. $15 million have been dispersed among charities, scholarship programs, and projects. 100% of the donations/proceeds are devoted to the programs.

Movie

Yes, The Notebook has a movie adaptation released in 2004. In 1996, Nicholas Sparks wrote the book. The movie and book have the same story line but tell different points in the story. The movie gives an almost perfect setting to the entire picture. However, in the book it goes more in depth on what the characters are going through. Even though there are a few differences I still recommend that people read the book as well as watch the movie. The writing in the book is phenomenal. The writing for the movie is amazing.

Usually people say, “The books are always better than the movies,” but this isn’t the case in this situation. yes, they focus on different parts of the story but still are able to bring out the same emotions when you’re reading it. The movie stars Rachel McAdams as Ally Hamilton and Ryan Gosling as Noah Calhoun. The movie accumulated multiple awards like MTV Movie & TV Award for Best Kiss won by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Drama, won by Ryan Gosling etc.

Common questions

The Notebook is not based off a series. The book however is a part of the romance genre. Romance is the genre that Nicholas Sparks tends to write in. The movie has the same ending as the book, just a little different. In the book Noah (or Duke) sneaks into Allie’s room late at night, she’s able to recognize him and they both share a kiss, following that, they end up falling asleep together holding hands in the same bed. When the morning comes, they’re found together having passed away in their sleep. In the movie it is the same exact moment only with the camera panning out to show birds flying off in the distance. This could be a reference to the one of the many famous lines in the movie where Noah says, “If you’re a bird, I’m a bird.”

The inspiration from The Notebook comes from Nicholas Sparks wife’s Grandparents, Nicholas Sparks said, “… two wonderful people who spent over 60 years together and it was then they told us the story of how they met and fell in love, parts of which eventually made their way into The Notebook.”

Emotions

The Notebook is an emotional roller coaster. Reading this book you will find yourself choking up when they go in depth on Allie’s dementia and how it progressed overtime. Feeling extremely single when Ally and Noah fall back in love years later after being apart. Punching the air when they reminisce on their “…summer underneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love.” Believe it I punched that air alright. Reading this book made me realize I want a Noah Calhoun in my life. I was very mad when I found out Anne Nelson, Allie’s mom, kept every single letter Noah wrote to Allie. He wrote a letter every day for a year. She did this because Noah is poor and wanted Allie to marry rich. Her doing this caused both Ally and Noah to think that both had forgotten about each other.