The Best of Me

The Best of Me

by Nicholas Sparks

Love stories usually aren't my favorite type of books, though I will occasionally read one now and then. There are a few authors I like and Nicholas Sparks is one.

The story is typical, it is about love and it has all the elements that make a good story: The girl, the boy, the forbidden love that they overcome. Amanda was more high society and Dawson was from across the tracks. Amanda was headed to college and Dawson was just trying to escape his family's violence and drug trade. Though they fell in love, Dawson and Amanda couldn't get past her mother's fears. So Amanda went on to college and Dawson spent four years in prison due to a car accident that really wasn't his fault.

Now it's twenty years later, Amanda is married and Dawson works on an oil rig out in the ocean. Unknown to the other, they both receive a letter from the home town lawyer requesting their presence at the reading of a will. Their mentor and friend, Tuck Hostetler, had died.

Once they meet again, they realize their love has never died and is only rekindled. Amanda has important decisions to make. Dawson wants her to run away with him. Should she leave her alcoholic husband?

Business in town finished, she's headed home to rethink her life when she gets a telephone call. Her son and husband have been in a terrible auto accident and the boy may not make it. Amanda races to the hospital.

Several subplots weave their way throughout the book, each affecting our two main characters. Jumping from scene to scene is a nice way to tell the whole story - until you realize that one subplot has stopped. It was then that I knew exactly where this book was headed and I was not happy.

I know that not everything goes exactly the way we hope, but sometimes it would be nice if it did.

Nicholas Sparks said this book was one of the hardest that he ever wrote. Well, Nicholas, it was one of the hardest that I ever read too!

A Walk in the Woods

A Walk in the Woods

Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

by Bill Bryson

I'm not sure what I expected from this book, other than the back cover mentioned "bizarre assortment of hilarious characters" and "comic genius."

The book started out interesting enough; I enjoyed the trips to the Dartmouth Co-op picking out camping gear, and I enjoyed the meet-up with his overweight hiking buddy who seemed to think that tons of donuts would sustain them on their hike through the Appalachians. The characters they met along the way were interesting and fascinating; I especially liked the girl who debated every comment and seemed to think she was the only person who knew anything, eventually ending up debating her own comments.

While the beginning of the book was enjoyable, my interest began to wane. As I watched my bookmark's progression, my feelings about its placement seemed to coincide with Bryson's feelings about the walk - I was a bit tired of it. Much of the middle of the book consisted of informational entries about the mountains and history of the trail rather than Bryson's experiences on the trail. I then realized that when you're walking through the woods, it's difficult to describe the sameness of each day differently, especially when one might go days without seeing another person. Each tree, each trail looks the same as another.

I was hoping for at least a bear or bobcat encounter, but there was none. The buddy did have an exciting episode though.

There were points along the way for tents and short trails into the nearest town. It was at one of these stops when they realize they've moved only two inches on the map. Eventually, rather than being discouraged, all of a sudden they, along with the reader, experience freedom - it's okay if they don't walk the whole trail. Hence - A Walk in the Woods.

Last Days of Summer

Last Days of Summer

by Steve Kluger

This epistolary novel about 12-year-old Joey from Brooklyn who is looking for a father-figure was a joy to read. Joey is open about his disdain and at the same time his admiration for third baseman Charlie Banks of the New York Giants.

Through a series of determined and hilariously annoying letters to the baseball player, Charlie at first responds in kind, then to his surprise softens and eventually befriends Joey. Throughout, the road to their friendship is examined by Joey's psychologist.

The book is a series of letters and notes to and from Joey and Charlie, Charlie's girlfriend, Charlie's baseball friends, Joey's teachers, his psychologist, and his best friend, etc. As Joey plans his angle of approach to Charlie, his persistence in the relationship is laugh-out-loud. He becomes even more lovable the harder he tries - even when he tries to join the Army at age 13 - just to be with Charlie.

Last Days of Summer will have you laughing, crying, and wishing for the glamorous and innocent age of the 1940s before the war.