The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

4/5 rating. 261 pages.

Book #21 of 2022. Read April 27 2022.

Do I feel a little guilty about rating this the same as “To Kill a Mockingbird”?….maybe a little bit, but this love story is just so good!

This book tells the story of Noah and Allie’s love. They got together as kids in high school for a summer but then did not see each other for another 14 years. Though they truly loved each other that one summer, their different backgrounds made it impossible to be together at that time. After seeing Noah’s picture in his hometown’s newspaper by chance, Allie decides that she has to go see him. From there, the two quickly remember how easy things were together.

While there is difficulty since Allie is engaged, true love wins over here and Noah and her fall madly in love once again. Noah recounts this story of them falling in love, but now Noah is fighting Allie’s Alzheimer’s, trying to keep her with him through love and perseverance.

Some of the quotes I loved:

• “But she also sensed it wasn’t enough. She wanted something else, something different, something more. Passion and romance, perhaps, or maybe quiet conversations in candlelit rooms, or perhaps something as simple as not being second.”
• “She understood the reasons, but they were rushing, like Lon toward long hours and profits, neglecting the things that brought beauty to the world.”
• “These weren’t the things that drove society, but she felt they shouldn’t be treated as unimportant. They made living worthwhile.”
• “And I learned what is obvious to a child. That life is simply a collection of little lives, each lived one day at a time. That each day should be spent finding beauty in flowers and poetry and talking to animals. That a day spent with dreaming and sunsets and refreshing breezes cannot be bettered. But most of all, I learned that life is about sitting on benches next to ancient creeks with my hand on her knee and sometimes, on days, for falling in love.”

This is the perfect sappy romance. The movie is great, and the book definitely didn’t disappoint!

Quotes:

“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.”

“This isn’t the kind of thing you go into halfway.”

“He couldn’t look at her as he spoke. He didn’t want to realize he’d been mistaken about what had just happened between them. He didn’t want it to be a mistake.”

“Poetry, she thought, wasn’t written to be analyzed; it was meant to inspire without reason, to touch without understanding.”

“Alzheimer’s…It is a barren disease, as empty and lifeless as a desert. It is a thief of hearts and souls and memories.”

“I do not know who I would have become had you never come back to me that day, but I have no doubt that I would have loved and died with regrets that thankfully I’ll never know.”

“The young, brash and impatient, must always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox.”

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