Second Time Around: A Walk To Remember

Tell us about a book you can read again and again without getting bored — what is it that speaks to you?

Honestly, I cried. Not an quick tear that you can brush aside- a sobbing, red-eyed mess. One that involves the heart, not any other part of your body. Love is so conflicting. I may not have experienced it, but Nicholas Sparks makes me feel like I’m young, wild, and free (which I technically am) while reading my favorite book. Of all the books that I’ve read, A Walk to Remember is honestly my favorite. It’s true love, and it’s just so good. I’ve already written several posts involving this book, but not one entirely for it. If you described Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan separately, I’d see no chemistry or even interaction between them. They’re on opposite sides of the school spectrum, but several events/instances (depending on if you read the book or watched the movie) bring them together in a chance of fate. Nicholas Sparks is just so amazing like that- able to use real problems (part of the plot is from his real life) and incorporate them into something so beautiful and fragile and timeless. But it is the difference that Jamie makes to Landon. In the book, Landon has become a better person, donating his own money for a cause Jamie really cared for and still loving her 40 years after she died. In the movie, he gets into medical school, even though he had no reason to go to college before meeting Jamie. He visits Hegbert, Jamie’s father, years after the only thing they had in common left the earth. He started finding God and reading the Bible, and I can go on and on. The thing that speaks to me is Jamie’s attitude throughout her entire life (or at least what I can see from the book and the movie). Her mom died in childbirth, and her father was a strict but loving pastor, but she was still a sweet, amazing girl. Her attitude always included faith, and the plan that God has. The way Landon describes her in the book makes me laugh a little. She’s a bit of a “bible-thumper”, but not so severe that she judges everyone who isn’t. A caring teenager who loves animals and people and her dad and God. She didn’t deserve to die. But she did. My hope is to carry on her legacy of faith and care. It’s a bit hard to do that because the world is not as innocent of a place as it was when the book was set, but I know that that’s a big goal of mine. Again, this brings me back to the topic of nostalgia, which is when the world was much simpler and living in a small town wasn’t odd or quaint- it was practically normal. 

“Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins, but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.”

Song of the Day: Only Hope by Mandy Moore

If you don’t like that version (which I doubt), try Switchfoot’s version of Only Hope

*I want to point out that two of my friends have found my blog, so I’m giving them a shoutout: I love my best friends Sus and Friend With Personal Touch Issues. 

Goodbye my lovelies, and thanks for reading. XOXOXO- Queen of Mumblers