A Literary Tour-Beauford, North Carolina*

After I finally got my library card, I decided to take advantage of it and request a bunch of books at the library. The only problem, my literary knowledge doesn't go much further than Twilight, Harry Potter and Anita Stansfield LDS romance novels. Not much of a selection there, plus I've read most of those multiple times. So I went to facebook, asked for suggestions and got some great ones. I pretty much requested them all and ended up really far down on the waiting lists for almost all of them. So I wasn't expecting the text from the library on Monday night saying that there were six (6!) books waiting for me. They were A Walk to Remember, The Red Tent, The Secret Life of Bees, Into Thin Air, Water For Elephants, and These Is My Words. Hello! So that night I began my quest to become a little more familiar with something other than vampires, wizards and Australians.

Book #1 A Walk to Remember by, Nicholas Sparks

I had my reasons for choosing this book. First, every girl needs a little romance, right? Second, I love the movie! It's not the most masterful of cinematic works, but it's clean, realistic to a certain extent, and I think Shane West is super cute (plus I've always held a secret admiration for Many Moore...she's like the homely, four eyed, embarrassing step sister that nobody talks about when it comes to the Disney teen queens of the late 90's. She really made you root for her but you just couldn't admit it because she wasn't Brittany.) Anyway, I wanted to see how the book would measure up to a movie that I really like and always makes me cry......here goes.

I liked the book only okay. I felt that Nicholas Sparks kind of let the reader down with the amount of character development. In the movie you have a really clear understanding of why Landon Carter is such a rebel and while that it alluded to in the novel, the only thing he ever did wrong was loiter at the cemetery after hours. Really? It would have been better had he been portrayed as a greaser from the other side of the tracks, someone along the lines of John Milner or Fonzie. At least they got parking tickets and wore leather jackets. But no, Landon Carter just seemed like any other normal guy from 1958. Maybe not Ritchie Cunningham, but definitely Potsy Webber (I watched a lot of Nick a Nite growing up).

I was also disappointed with the quality of the writing. I know that is most people's complaint about Twilight, but Nicholas Sparks is supposed to be an accomplished writer and i would have expected more. In the first half of the book, he used the phrase 'If you know what I mean' (or some form of it) on every page and I'm not joking.

Then there was the climax which I think is the most important part of the story. If you haven't read it or seen the movie, I won't give a spoiler, just know that it's there. I feel that it happened way too late in the book and then there wasn't enough attention given to it. It was like BOOM! 20 pages later, the end.

However, there were some very good aspects of the book and I feel that i would be remiss if i left them out. I really do love the story, it has feel good moments and it will cause you to get a little emotional....but I cried more in the movie than the book. I love that it is clean in pretty much every aspect of the story and that is, of course, a huge plus. I also really loved the spiritual journey that all of the characters went on, but I would have loved more of that. It just falls into that whole climax thing that I was talking about before.

All in all, it was a quick easy read that did make me feel good when it was all said and done. I would recommend if you have nothing else to read or want something quick and easy.

*The book takes place in Beauford, North Carolina. Next up, Israel and Egypt for The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

** I will post about my future literary stops as soon as the book is finished and I've reconciled all of my feelings about it.

Post Edit-I'm canceling the trip to Israel and Egypt in favor of Arizona and These Is My Words by, Nancy E. Turner. For anyone who has read The Red Tent, I tried really hard to think it was a good book, but I ended up feeling conflicted by the subject matter so I stopped about 30 pages in. If you haven't read it, let me know if you want a more detailed description as to why I stopped reading it.