I just finished this book and I must say that I freakin' loved it! By far one of my top favorite Nicholas Sparks books. I finished it in 2 sittings once I really got into it, well 3 actually...the 3rd to finish the last 100 pages or so. Like I've said before, I am a sucker for a good romance. I love all the cheesy stuff...but not the romance novels, you know, the ones with the couples on the front and it's about a pirate and his wench or something like that. I like true romance...although, I don't know how well this work out in real life.

It amazes me sometimes that it's a man that writes these books.

But anywho, about the book...it was a very easy read that kept me enthralled with it. It's a lot longer than most of his books, which was great in my opinion. I tend to not want his books to end. I read online reviews before I read it and a lot of people complained about the ending. Here's where major spoilers come in. I loved the ending. I was wishing throughout the book that Logan, or someone, would just kill Clayton so they could live their life drama-free. I got teary eyed at the ending, especially when it was Zeus that saved Ben. When I read, it kinda plays in my head like a movie. I guess that's why subtitled movies never bothered me. But that's the mark of a good book to me, if I can play it like a movie in my head, it's a great read. And in this book, I could really relate to Elizabeth's terror seeing her son fight for his life...and I don't even have a kid. What I was pissed about the ending was that I thought that BOTH Logan and Clayton were killed by the flood. Which, I guess is how he wanted you to think, because it eludes to his funeral and everything and just mentions him in the epilogue...at the end of it to boot. But once I found that Logan had lived, I was happy with the ending again.

It's a wonderful book and I advise everyone in the world to read it. I wouldn't be surprised if they made this one into a movie...it has movie worthy all over it.

Book Title: The Lucky One
Date Read: Dec. 2009
Pages: 326
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Type of Book: Romantic fiction
Recommended By: Nichole Messervy
My Interest in this book is: suggested to me; developing romance
Ideas expressed/message/plot:
Favorite characters/quotes/lines:Logan
When I finished this book I felt:
Other books to read by this Author or theme:
I would recommend this book to:
Notes/Comments:
Loaned to/Date/Returned :

A year in the life of 2 friends (male & female) who start a catering business in modern Dublin. Romantic entaglements add to the problems of launching a new business.

Testimony is a story of consequences. In an elite co-ed boarding school in New Hampshire, an orgy between four students (3 male & over 18, 1 female & 14) is taped & the tape is passed around. Eventually it comes into the hands of the headmaster who must decide how to handle the situation.

The novel gives us the words - the testimony - of people who were impacted by the events of the book. From the headmaster to the students involved to staff, faculty, & townspeople the...more Testimony is a story of consequences. In an elite co-ed boarding school in New Hampshire, an orgy between four students (3 male & over 18, 1 female & 14) is taped & the tape is passed around. Eventually it comes into the hands of the headmaster who must decide how to handle the situation.

The multiple perspectives are fresh & interesting & there are some finely drawn characters here - precise, exact, believable. This approach also has its flaws - a certain kind of enforced distance from events & characters, not enough of any one character to "know" them & care about them. The male characters are for the most part complex & fully fleshed, particularly the adult males. The female characters are problematic for me - stereotyped as vixens or good girls the virgin/whore dichotomy is on full display.

The novel has multiple settings, but two primary - Vermont & the elite boarding school where events take place. The sense of place in Vermont is palpable, that of the boarding school is more mushy. There are parts of this that reminded me of Midwives, also set in Vermont - the snow, the black ice, the oppressive cold, the warmth of family life seen through windows. The school environment isn't nearly as well imagined & in many ways the author keeps all of the teenagers at arm's length, mentioning their many transgressions, but refusing to explore them. This refusal to explore leaves its own ripples of missed opportunity throughout the novel.

Despite its flaws & missed opportunities the book is a quick read because it's difficult to put down. The story is compelling, although not always enjoyable & deftly illustrates the fact that actions do indeed have consequences

I enjoyed the writing style Shreve uses; letting each character tell their own version of the events and how they handled it, how it effected them and the remainder of their lives. I thought it was a very probable scenario, one that too easily can and does occur.

A powerful book so far; but I have to take a break now and then while reading it. This is a novel with true events (and real names) of the killings at Columbine High School interwoven throughout, and it is very emotional reading about this traumatic event and its effects on the lives of real people.

I have been a huge Wally Lamb fan after reading: She's Come Undone, and I Know This Much Is True: A Novel (P.S.). This new book comes after a 10 year dry spell. One of Lamb's talents has always been the ability to write so beautifully about damaged people. This new novel is no exception.

Caelum Quirk is a forty-seven-year-old high school teacher, married for the third time. His younger wife, Maureen, is a school nurse at the same school-- Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In April 1999, Caelum returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has just had a stroke, but Maureen stays behind. She finds herself in the school library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed, as two vengeful students go on a carefully premeditated, murderous rampage. Miraculously she survives, but at a cost -- she is unable to recover from the trauma. Caelum and Maureen flee Colorado and return to an illusion of safety at the Quirk family farm in Three Rivers. But the effects of chaos are not so easily forgotten, and further tragedy ensues.

The Columbine portion of this story reminded me of Nineteen Minutes, however, Lamb, chose to use the actual names of the shooters and the victims in this story. This novel, is not just a story about Columbine, although the aftermaths of the shooting follow Maureen and Caelum throughout the story. This novel is about so much more. In fact, within this book are stories which span five generations. Caelum uncovers secrets of his past, and that of his ancestors after finding old diaries, letters, and newspaper clippings in an upstairs bedroom of his family's house. Piece by piece, he reconstructs the lives of those who came before him, and along the way as secrets emerge, he is better able to understand his own troubled past.

I have only one caveat about the book -- Janet's PHD thesus was too long and could have been edited down. I actually found myself skimming over a lot of it which did not damage the continuity of the book at all.

LONG!!! I saw the merit in the story but at times it just seemed so long...

Read review in the Sun
The Office meets Six Feet Under