Bought for €1 outside Floridsdorf station, Vienna.

This is definitely a love story. It describes mainly the feelings of two people as they meet after years of separation, and then what happens to them afterwards, and above all it is sad. There is a lot of introspection and in parts it verges (!) on over-sentimentality, but overall it is effective in making the reader feel sad, empathising with the characters. The book is particularly effective in that it is written in two parts, which makes you wonder about the author's age. It is difficult to tell whether he was old or young when he wrote this, and the book has no information about him!

It did not take me long to read, and shall be passed on to stemonitis.

Well, yeah, it took me a while to get round to reading this. A lot of factors turned me off it : the large type, the description, etc. but eventually I got around to reading it, and it wasn't as bad as I had feared, though hardly Nobel-winning literature.

Still, it was only €1, and it will cost even less to anyone who catches it.

Caught at the meet up yesterday. I love love stories und my English definitely needs a brush up. Looking forward to reading it!

The novel opens in a nursing home as 80-year-old Noah Calhoun, "a common man with common thoughts", reads a love story from a notebook; it is his own story. In 1946, Noah, newly returned from the war, is trying to forget a long-ago summer romance with Allie Nelson, the daughter of a powerful businessman. Allie, soon to be married with a lawyer, feels compelled to track Noah down. One steamed-crab dinner and a canoe ride later, they fall madly in love again. We then learn that Noah, now aged and infirm, is reading his notebook to Allie in an attempt to jog her memory, severely impaired by Alzheimer's disease, and, miraculously, he actually succeeds, much to the amazement of the hospital staff. There is something suspect about a romantic relationship that reaches its acme when one of the partners is in the throes of dementia, but love conquers all, even Alzheimer's, leaving the medical experts (and also the reader) confounded.

The quintessence is: Two ordinary people are rendered extraordinary by the strength, power and beauty of true love; each brings out the best in the other, and their pure love endures. So don't forget: Bring a box of tissues while your at it. Since Nicholas Sparks describes a certain love so deep, so passionate you just need to let go those tears of yours - and head elsewhere for great literature!

Released on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 at Controlled Releases in Wien, Wien Austria.

Dieses Buch wird von mir für den Welttag-des-Buches-Massenrelease am 23.4.2004 gespendet!

Gefangen! Danke für die Spende!

Released on Friday, April 23, 2004 at Welttag-des-Buches in Wien, Wien Austria.

Post Office, goes to the USA