The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

I literally just finished reading The Wedding ten minutes ago. All I can say is that I put the book down with a tear in my eye, a smile on my face, and a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart. The Wedding is the sequel to the book The Notebook. I have not read The Notebook, but saw the movie last year and loved it. It is an easy read, written from the point of view of Wilson, the son-in-law of Noah Calhoun (the main character from The Notebook), and even though I have not read the first book, I was able to follow along just fine.

The book opens with a retrospective Wilson talking about the things he has learned over the past thirty years of marriage and explains to the reader that it has been a difficult, but rewarding journey. This retrospective attitude is brought upon by the fact that Wilson has forgotten his 29th wedding anniversary, and begins questioning why his wife married him in the first place.

The novel then shifts to a year later, eight days before his 30th wedding anniversary, and a visit from his eldest daughter in which she exclaims that she is getting married, but wants to get married on her parents' wedding anniversary. Reluctantly Wilson's wife agrees to this and begins helping her daughter plan this harried wedding. The novel takes us through the life of Wilson and his wife, the present and the past, the good times and the bad, leading us up to their daughter's wedding. I cannot say much more without giving away the ending, but if you enjoy romantic stories, The Wedding is the book for you!

"Sparks' 1996 debut novel, The Notebook, was a fast and easy read that sold millions upon millions of copies. Other bestselling love stories followed (Message in a Bottle; A Walk to Remember; The Guardian), but Sparks's fans have from the very beginning eagerly anticipated a sequel to the romantic tale of Allie and Noah Calhoun. The wait is now over. Attorney Wilson Lewis has been married to Noah and Allie's daughter, Jane, for 30 years. Wilson and Jane have raised three children and lived a satisfying and prosperous life in the bucolic town of New Bern, N.C. After forgetting his anniversary, Wilson realizes that the passion and romance have gone out of his marriage and fears his wife no longer loves him. Being a methodical man, he decides to embark on a yearlong program to renew his romantic ties to his wife, seeking out the advice of Noah, who now spends his days in a retirement home feeding a swan he is sure is the reincarnation of his beloved Allie. In the midst of Wilson's machinations, his daughter Anna announces she is getting married. The upcoming wedding provides Wilson with the opportunity to bring his elaborate plan to fruition. Sparks tells his sweet story competently, without sinking too deeply into the mire of sentiment; a gasp-inducing twist comes at the very end. Satisfied female readers will close the covers with a sigh and a wish that a little of the earnest, too-good-to-be-true Wilson might rub off on their own bedmates." --From Publishers Weekly Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Read a few pages: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0446693332/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-0514244-7095237#reader-link

Push by Sapphire

About a month ago, I went on a car trip to Tallahassee. I was the passenger so I was able to get a little reading done. I was in the middle of a book I had been reading, Push by Sapphire. When I was done, I had tears streaming down my face. I felt so thankful for everything and was inspired to be a light in someone's life.

Push is a story about a teenage girl named Precious. She cannot read or write and knows that she is uneducated. She has been sexually abused by her father, and verbally and mentally abused by her mother for as long as she can remember. At 16, she is pregnant with her father's second child. Because of her lack of book smarts, she lashes out during school to avoid being made fun of. After being held back two years and getting pregnant, her middle school principal suspends her from school but encourages her to enroll in an alternative school. Precious takes this advice and her life begins to turn around. Her reading teacher challenges her to think for herself. She starts to see the world around her in a different light. She begins to realize the home in which she lives is not a good place and begins to act independently. She turns to writing to work through her emotions and puts together amazing poetry.

This book is written in a very unique way--from the point of view of Precious. She cannot read or write when we first begin her story so the text is written phonetically. As Precious' reading and writing abilities develop, the text gets easier to read. It is actually quite interesting the way the author draws us into Precious' world. The language is quite graphic but is appropriate for the context. If you can remember the life that Precious lives, and get beyond the language and sexual situations, I promise you will be inspired when you read this book.

"Claireece Precious Jones endures unimaginable hardships in her young life. Abused by her mother, raped by her father, she grows up poor, angry, illiterate, fat, unloved and generally unnoticed. So what better way to learn about her than through her own, halting dialect. That is the device deployed in the first novel by poet and singer Sapphire. "Sometimes I wish I was not alive," Precious says. "But I don't know how to die. Ain' no plug to pull out. 'N no matter how bad I feel my heart don't stop beating and my eyes open in the morning." An intense story of adversity and the mechanisms to cope with it." --Amazon.com

Here are a few pages from amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0679766758/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-8551803-4692845#reader-link