The Bursting Bookshelf

Title: A Walk To Remember
Author: Nicolas Sparks
Publisher: Warner Books
Release: October 1, 1999
Pages: 224
Series: None
Synopsis:
In 1958 Landon Carter is a shallow but well-meaning teenager who spends most of his time hanging out with his friends and trying hard to ignore the impending responsibilities of adulthood. Then Landon gets roped into acting the lead in the Christmas play opposite the most renowned goody two-shoes in town: Jamie Sullivan. Against his best intentions and the taunts of his buddies, Landon finds himself falling for Jamie and learning some central lessons in life.

Review:
I read this book simply for the Nicolas Sparks Challenge that I signed up for. It looked interesting and I thought that after I could rent the movie and see how close they stuck to the book. I had also heard a lot of good things about this book and the movie, but I have this thing against seeing the movie before I've read the book. I really enjoyed this book because of the characters. I feel like they really fit into the setting like none other. I loved how Jamie didn't even care that she was teased, she was still nice to everyone and never did anything bad. And I especially loved reading about Landon's growth throughout the book and how he discovered who he really is. The writing and story in this book also flowed really well and always kept moving, though the beginning was slow to start and it got faster. Even though the rest was really good, the best part was the end. I finished this book in a public place and had to fight back my tears. Altogether, this book made a beautiful stand alone novel and it just came together wonderfully. Out of five, I give it a 4.5, simply because the beginning was a little too slow.

• Runs January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011(books read prior to 1/1/11 do not count towards the challenge). You can join at anytime – Sign up on The Book Vixen’s blog.
• The goal is to read or re-read as many Nicholas Sparks novels as you’d like. See the different levels below and pick the one that works best for you. Nothing is set in stone; you can change levels at any time during the challenge.
• Books can be any format (bound, eBook, audio).
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are fine.
• You can list your books in advance or list them as you read them. It is not required that you review the books you read for this challenge but feel free to do so.
• Post this reading challenge on your blog so you can keep a list of the books you’ve read for this challenge. Please include a link back to this post so readers can join the challenge too.
• You do not have to be a book blogger to participate. You can keep tabs on books you’ve read for this challenge on Goodreads or LibraryThing if you’d like (maybe make a shelf for “Nicholas Sparks Reading Challenge”). If you are not on either of those sites then you can list the books you read for this challenge in the comments on my wrap-up post, which will be up at the end of 2011.

     First Date – Read 1–4 Nicholas Sparks novels
     Going Steady – Read 5–8 Nicholas Sparks novels
     Engaged – Read 9–12 Nicholas Sparks novels
     Married – Read 13–16 Nicholas Sparks novels


I haven't decided on which books I'll read, but I'll let you know as I go in this post or in my challenges tab up top.