Why I chose this book?

I guess I am slowly starting to run out of things to talk about the book The Choice by Nicholas Sparks so I am going to tell you why I started reading this book in the first place.

I have always heard girls talking about how good Nicholas Sparks' books are but I never really got around to reading them. Yes, I was one of those girls that never read The Notebook or The Last Song. I never actually got to read any romantic books before but to my surprise after I started reading The Choice, it turns out that I really enjoy reading them.

Reading this book was actually not my first choice but, this was one of the only Nicholas Sparks books left in the library. I really hope that some of you start reading these books because trust me, you will not be able to get away from them once you start.

Summary of The Choice So Far...

I know it has probably been nearly a month that I have started to read this book. But, I like to take my time and really understand the book so I really hope that no one judges me for taking this long to read the book.

So far, I am at the point where Travis invites Gabby over to his boat ride that he is going to go on with his friends (or family). Gabby feels nervous about going on this trip with Travis because she feels like it is a bit too forward. She doesn't want to come off too strong. At the end, she ends up agreeing to the offer. When Gabby goes on the trip, it is nothing like how she expected it to be. She started making new friends very quickly. It even surprised her how well she knew everyone by the end of the trip. Towards the end of the chapter, Gabby starts questioning herself about whether or not she feels attracted towards Travis. Now, Gabby already has a boyfriend but now that Travis has entered her life, she is starting to wonder if Kevin is the right man for her right now.

If you read this blog and are really confused, I am really sorry about the confusion. You are just going to have to read the book by yourself. I would say that it is one of the best books I have read so far.

Most Important Line from The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

I am still currently reading The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. I think the most important line so far in this book is, "Have you had her checked by a vet?". This line may seem very straight forward at first but, when you read later on in the book, that line has some great significance. I don't want to give the whole story away but I will give just enough information so you can understand the meaning of this line.

Gabby goes up to Travis and confronts him by saying that Travis's dog is the reason that Gabby's dog is pregnant. This issue get Gabby really fired up. She really believes that Travis should take some responsibility to take care of the puppies. On the other hand, Travis thinks that that is not the situation. He tells Gabby that she should get her dog checked by the vet to either make sure that she is or she is not pregnant. Later in the story, we find that Gabby does indeed go to see the vet. But, to her surprise, the vet ends up being Travis.

The thing to take away from this is that some lines may seem very simple but in the end they have great significance and impact on the story.

Krista Ramesy

I decided to read the column about a reading teacher who wants students to pass a test and love books at the same time.

Summary: Krista Ramsey talks about a third grade teacher who works really hard to tutor and teach students how to pass the reading OAA test. This teacher tries not bore kids with reading but rather incorporates fun activities to get them to love reading.

Column: Krista Ramsey Column

Best Line: I think that the best line in the column is, "For her students, the stakes couldn’t be higher: Pass the 2½-hour Ohio Achievement Assessment or be retained in third grade, at least for language arts." After reading this line in the column, the reader should be kind of intimidated. This line portrays two different spectrums, either pass the test or stay in third grade. One option could make a kid's life better while the other could possibly ruin it. The author uses great diction in this line. For example, she uses words such as "stakes" and "retained". The writing style seems kind of flowery becuase this sentence is very long compared to the rest of the column.

Ramsey's Writing Style: Krista Ramsey's writing style is very unique. I feel like she is kind of formal almost like she is writing an article but she does include some of her own voice which brings out the creativity in her columns. A piece of evidence that supports this claim from the first column, For better vision, kids need time outdoors, "You see it all the time. Your teenager at the dinner table, waiting for his checkup at the orthodontist office, sauntering to his car-continually hunched over his smartphone or iPad." I felt that this line really exemplifies her writing style because at the beginning of the column, she starts off very informal with some examples but later in the column, she starts giving statistics and writes very formally. Based on the above evidence, I feel like this column is written in a very journalistic way. Another piece of evidence that supports this claim from the second column is, "The amazing thing isn't that two super jocks know how to dress well, but that they actually seem to want to." I think that the sentences are very elegant. I feel like they flow very nicely together. This writing makes it informal because she uses the word "jock" and she uses that term very loosely. The last piece of evidence from the third column is, "In her five years of teaching, she’s never retained a single student." The writing style in this column is very solid. The author is to the point and very formal at trying to make her point.

Questions:

• Do you find your inspiration for the columns from everyday life problems?
• How have developed the interest in writing columns?
• Do you get much critisicm for the columns you write?

Symbols of Characters in The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

I am not very far into my book right now. But, I think that I have a pretty good understanding of the type of characters in the book so far. You may not know these characters but try to relate to them as I explain their symbols.

Travis: Travis is the main character in the story. I think that a rubber band best represents Travis's personality. I feel like he is a very resilient person. Travis is the only bachelor in his group of friends and his friends' wives try to find him a perfect match so that evetually he could get married too. To me, Travis seems like that use and throw type of guy. He has been in a relationship with many girls before but none of them really impact severely. He is very resislient, he goes back to his normal life even when he has just been through a major breakup.

Laird: Laird is one of Travis's best friends. He is also in the group of best friends with Travis. I think that a clock would best represent Laird's personality. Obviously, a clock measures the amount of time and sometimes, people look at clocks in hopes that time would move faster than it already is. In the book, it states that Laird was one of the first ones to get married. "Laird had been the first to marry-he and Allison had tied the knot the summer after they graduated from Wake Forest." (pg. 14) Laird always seems like he is in a rush. At one gathering at Travis's house, Laird and Allison were the first ones to leave. Travis believed that they were the cause for everyone else to leave after them and therefore they were the so called "party poopers".

Megan: Megan was married to Joe. I think that a hair tie would best represent Megan's personality. She always tries to keep things togther. She kind of acts like the matchmaker in this book. She keeps on asking Travis about other girls and recommends him to date girls that she knows. She tries to pair a girl and Travis up but she knows that Travis still wouldn't like that.

The Choice: About the Author

Nicholas Sparks is a very famous author for writing several New York Times Bestselling Books. Nicholas Sparks also happens to be the author of the book that I am currently reading right now. Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories, The Notebook, over a period of six months at age 28. Sparks lives in North Carolina with his family. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually. I have also heard that girls favor many of Nicholas Spark's books. This may be because, Sparks tends to write a lot of romantic novels which definitely appeal to girls. Trust me, I would know. I really encourage anyone to read any of Nicholas Spark's books!

The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

I decided to start reading a new book named The Choice  by Nicholas Sparks. I just started reading this book and I am not very far into it either so, this post is going to be very short.

I will start by talking about what I think is going on in the book so far. Travis Parker is the only bachelor in his group of friends. All of his friends are married off and he was the best man in each and every one of them. He is also pretty good friends with the wives of his friends. One day, they he was just hanging out with his friends and their wives when they asked him about his romantic relationships. He claims that he has dated a lot of girls before but, his friends think that none of them are good enough. They end up trying to find him a girl in hopes that one day, he will marry.

Even though, I am barely ten pages into the book, I am very interested and drawn in. I decided to start reading some of Nicholas Sparks books because, I have heard that he writes books that are strongly appealing to girls. I really enjoy watching and reading "chic flicks" so I am very excited to find out what happens during the rest of the book.

If you are interesed, take a look at this video: