The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks and The Choice

While I'm not normally a sappy romantic, I have recently finished two books by Nicholas Sparks, The Choice and The Best of Me. 

When choosing books, I usually look for a good writer rather than a good story because I feel like a good writer can write any story and make it good.  Mr. Sparks is just such a writer as every book I have read by him has me on the edge wanting more and I always have this feeling of wanting to hurry up and find out what happens next.  

In The Choice, each of the main characters must make a choice.  One must choose between two men and the other must choose whether or not to pull the feeding tube on a coma patient.

In The Best of Me, high school sweethearts are reunited but their destiny is uncertain and, I must say, totally unpredictable.   This one is reminiscent of The Notebook.  

Like I mentioned before, I'm not usually into romance type novels but these are very well written and also very suspenseful.  And both will keep you up late at night trying to find out what will happen next.    I enjoyed them very much and I highly recommend anything by Nicholas Sparks.  All of his books are National Best Sellers and three of them have been made into motion pictures.

Both were published by Grand Central Publishing.

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

For One More Day by Mitch Albom is the story of a mother and son and the relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond.  

Charley "Chick" Benetto was told by his father that he could either be a mommy's boy or a daddy's boy and of course he chooses to be a daddy's boy playing baseball and spending most his time with his father until one day his father leaves home unexpectedly.  Chick grows up with just his mom and sister but has irrefutable damage to his psyche due to the divorce and becomes a bad husband, a bad father and an all around broken man who is even shunned by his own family.

He begins drinking heavily and one day decides to just end it all and commit suicide by driving his car off an embankment and into a billboard sign but his plan goes awry and he is thrown from the car and knocked unconscious.  While unconscious, he gets a visit from the spirit of his dead mother where he learns of things about her life and the sacrifices she has made for him.

What would we all give for just One More Day with a loved one?  I have personally wished for it many times.

Published in 2006 by Hyperion, For One More Day, despite mixed reviews from critics, made it to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. 

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom is a story about the meaning of time and the first man who tries to measure it.  

It's the beginning of the history of man, when Dor, a young boy, discovers time and invents the world's first clock.  But such a discovery comes with a price and not only is he banished from his town for a time but he is also punished by God and sent to live in a cave for centuries where he must hear the voices of all who desire more years, more days, more minutes....

Eventually he is offered a chance to redeem himself by saving the souls of two earthly people, one who wants to end her life and the other who wants to live forever.  And so he appears in modern times with an hourglass that when turned upside down, can stop time and attempts to save these lives and in turn end his eternal curse. 

This book is fantastic and the characters are likable and relatable as well.  It's a fast paced page turner and I liked it very much.  Another great story from Mitch Albom.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“It is never too late or too soon. It is when it is supposed to be.” 

“There is a reason God limits man's days.” 

“When you are measuring life, you are not living it.” 

Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent

Heaven is For Real:  A Little Boy's Astounding Story of his Trip to Heaven and Back.

I have to admit that when I first picked out this book at the library, which I put on hold and had to wait quite a long time for, I was skeptical.  I opened it right to the middle and starting reading which is totally out of character for me because I wanted to skip the technical stuff and get right to the little boy's comments about Heaven.  I was immediately charmed by his simple way of describing what it was like in Heaven.  So I started back at the beginning.

Todd and Sonja Burpo are on a family vacation when their 3-year old son Colton becomes violently ill.  They rush him to the hospital and soon after find out that he has an erupted appendix which requires emergency surgery.   After much prayer by Todd, a pastor, and his congregation, Colton recovers from surgery and all is well.

Shortly after they are home from the hospital Colton tells his parents that during the surgery he had actually died and that his soul astrally traveled to Heaven.  He tells his parents of things he learned that he couldn't possibly have known about such as relatives he met who had passed before he was born and a sister who had been miscarried.  He said that he had wings and that he sat on Jesus' lap.  He saw the throne of God and the gates of Heaven.  

This book is a fast read and I enjoyed it very much.  I do feel like I have a sense of renewed faith after reading it because I don't think it is possible for little kids to make up stuff like that.  It is possible that the parents read more into his visions than he proposed but all in all I believe his story.

Heaven is for Real was published in November 2010 by Thomas Nelson and was on the New York Times Bestseller list.

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is interesting to me in that it falls into so many different book genres such as historical fiction, suspense, romance, and even perhaps a little on the dark side.

Jacob Jankowski is a veterinarian major in college when his parents are killed in an accident.  Left penniless, with only a few weeks left to finish school, he runs off and joins the circus, The Benzini Brothers Greatest Show on Earth.   He is hired on as head veterinarian (despite his failure to obtain his degree) and soon falls in love with Marlena, the beautiful equestrienne star who happens to be married to the boss.  When the show, which is set in the 1930's Depression era, begins to falter financially the boss buys an elephant named Rosie who brings the characters together in an unexpected way.

The characters are believable, whimsical, sometimes dark and you either love them or hate them.  I think my favorite character was Rosie the elephant who at first refuses to do anything the trainers tell her to do until Jacob discovers her secret.  The case of the animals as a whole is not unlike the feeling of how circus animals are portrayed today and I feel like that is a major influence in the book.

The book as a whole, toggles between the present and the past, not unlike Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook where the main character, in this case Jacob Jankowski who is either 90 or 93, is a nursing home resident remembering his past in one chapter then revealing the hardships of his present state in the next.

I found the book to be a fast paced, suspenseful novel that was well researched and written.  I enjoyed it very much and now I must see the movie.  The Redbox didn't have it though and it's no wonder since the movie came out in 2011.  I'm way behind in the times on this one.

Published in 2006 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Water for Elephants remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for six weeks, and was nominated for numerous awards including the illustrious Quill Award, the Entertainment Weekly Best Novel award, and won the BookBrowse award in 2007 for most popular book.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

After reading Stephen King's colossal 11/22/63, The Notebook was like a decadent, rich, and smooth midnight snack.  I read the whole thing in about three hours.

The setting is coastal North Carolina, 1940's and Noah Calhoun is haunted by the ghost of a girl he once loved.  Everywhere he looks and everywhere he goes he is reminded of the love they once shared.  But she has been out of his life for more than a decade.

Allie Nelson is also haunted by the past and passions lost.  She is engaged to be married to another but she cannot go through with it until she is sure that is what she really wants.  So makes a trip back to New Bern, North Carolina to flirt with the past and see where her heart takes her.

She finds Noah sitting on the porch of his family home, alone and over the next few days, the two try to rekindle the flame that never went out. Will Allie follow her heart and stay with the man she never stopped loving or will she return to the socialite lifestyle she is expected to live?

"I would love to tell you that everything will work out for us, and I promise to do all I can to make sure it does.  But if we never meet again and this is truly good-bye, I know we will see each other again in another life.  We will find each other again, and maybe the stars will have changed, and we will not only love each other in that time, but for all the times we've had before."

I usually don't go in for romance novels but I knew that this book was a bestseller for over a year, all over the world and that it had been made into a movie and I found it at a thrift shop so I thought, why not?  I'm glad I did.  Every girl wishes for such a passionate romance and soul partner that Allie has found in Noah.  This is one of the greatest love stories ever told.