The Best of Nicholas Sparks – The Wedding

It’s been a while since I last had a chance to read a good book. For the past few months, I have been busy reviewing and memorizing some sentences on my academic books. Law school related readings were the only ones that have kept me occupied. However, last week, I realized that I needed to get back to pleasing myself with good reads. So, I asked some of my friends to send me their copies of lovely books. At the same time, I also bought some ebooks online.

The first set of books I got was written by Nicholas Sparks. I bet everyone knows this amazing author. He is a well-known and highly-recognized writer all over the world. He is the best when it comes to writing romantic novels. He has his own way of presenting the different characters which inspire every reader. 

One of his masterpieces is The Wedding. I was able to make some time to read this novel. The story of The Wedding revolves around a married couple, their kids and the people surrounding them. When Mr. Wilson, a lawyer, forgot their 29th wedding anniversary, his wife Jane felt really bad. The husband realized that he failed to fulfill the duties and promises he had promised to his wife and to his family. Because of this, he started to make some changes and thought of ways how to win back the love of his life. He had one year to make everything right. Every single day, he reminded himself of the happy moments he had shared with Jane all throughout the years. Well, let’s just say that the 30th anniversary of Wilson and Jane was the best. This book is truly inspiring. It is full of love and happiness. 

My favorite pages of the book are those where the conversations of Wilson and Noah (Jane’s father) are printed. There are so many good things about The Wedding! I am happy that I was able to read it despite my hectic schedule at school. Nothing beats the happiness that books offer to its readers especially those that are written by great authors like Nicholas Sparks and Paulo Coelho. Next week, I will start reading Daniel Handler’s Why We Broke Up. 

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Before ending this post, allow me to share some excerpts from The Wedding of Nicholas Sparks.

The Wedding Quotes

“Is it possible, I wonder, for a man to truly change? Or do character and habit form the immovable boundaries of our lives?”

“Please don’t misunderstand. I may not be sentimental, but I’m not completely without emotion, and there are moments when I’m struck by a deep sense of wonder.”

“Of course, all marriages go through ups and downs, and I believe this is the natural consequence of couples that choose to stay together over the long haul.” 

“All of those events create their own stresses, and when two people live together, the stress flows both ways. This, I’ve come to believe, is both the blessing and the curse of marriage. It’s a blessing because there’s an outlet for the everyday strains of life; it’s a curse because the outlet is someone you care deeply about.”

“We’d started out as a couple and been changed into parents—something I had always viewed as normal and inevitable—but after twenty-nine years, it was as if we’d become strangers again. Only habit seemed to be keeping us together.”

“What are we, after all, without our memories, without our dreams?”

“And that’s the most wonderful feeling in the world. How many people are ever given that chance? To have someone you love fall in love with you over and over?”

“The experts’ advice on improving a marriage? To focus on the four As— attention, appreciation, affection, and attraction. “

“When people ask me what it’s like to be a parent, I say that it’s among the hardest things you’ll ever do, but in exchange, it teaches you the meaning of unconditional love.”

“Frugality, I’ve learned, has its own cost, one that sometimes lasts forever.”

“But love, I’ve come to understand, is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day.”

“I’ve never loved anyone but you, I wanted to say, but common sense prevailed, reminding me that it would be better to save those words for another time, when I had her full attention and the words might be reciprocated.”

“And if we’re going to make it work between us, we’re both going to have to give a little.”

“A man still needs his dignity.”

“Impossible to know for sure, but in my heart I believed it.”

“Gifts of the heart can’t be claimed by anyone except the giver.”

“It’s funny, but have you ever noticed that the more special something is, the more people seem to take it for granted? It’s like they think it won’t ever change. “

“Experience had taught me that even the most precious memories fade with the passage of time.”

“Some things, after all, have never changed.”

“I learned, for instance, that while wounds can be inflicted easily upon those we love, it’s often much more difficult to heal them. Yet the process of healing those wounds provided the richest experience of my life, leading me to believe that while I’ve often overestimated what I could accomplish in a day, I had underestimated what I could do in a year. But most of all, I learned that it’s possible for two people to fall in love all over again, even when there’s been a lifetime of disappointment between them. I’m not sure what to think about the swan and what I saw that night, and I must admit that being romantic still doesn’t come easily. It’s a daily struggle to reinvent myself, and part of me wonders whether it always will be. But so what? I hold tight to the lessons that Noah taught me about love and keeping it alive, and even if I never become a true romantic like Noah, it doesn’t mean that I’m ever going to stop trying.”

Rating:  ★★★★☆