Thursday night (2/11), Nicholas Sparks came to UNCW to give a speech, do a q&a session, and book signing. To say I had been excited for this since I found out about a month ago..would be an understatement. I love Nicholas Sparks' books. I've read every single one..most in the course of a day or two because I just can't put them down. A Walk to Remember has always been my favorite book, as well as movie. So, of course, I couldn't wait for the opportunity to go to this event.
Stephanie and I grabbed dinner and then went together. After waiting in line in the freezing cold for about 20 minutes, we were finally let inside to find a seat. Thanks to my great eye (ha!), we found seats in the second row on the left. I wasn't about to go sit in the back [I blame having seats in the first 3 rows at concerts for this little pet peeve, haha].
So Mr. Sparks comes out a side door and I promise you, I've never seen more grown women scream & squeal and camera flashes going off than I did at that moment. He walks up to the stage looking all timid and embarrassed..but that didn't last for long. He explained that he would talk to us for awhile and then open it up for q&a...telling us not to be afraid to ask anything. And also noting that the answer was boxers -- yes, he has been asked that plenty of times before. This was just the first of many comical things the guy had to say. ;)
He went into explaining how he got into writing and how he finds inspiration for his books. Cue the tears. The man had all of us tearing up and 'aww-ing,' I believe. The Notebook is based off his wife's maternal grandparents. Message In A Bottle takes cues from his own parents' lives. A Walk To Remember draws from his sister who died from cancer. The book was finished before she passed away. However, she never read it, telling him that she didn't want to know how the story ended. Finally, The Rescue relies on Sparks own experience with his second son. To say he has been through a lot in his life thus far would be a major understatement. He also said his most recent novel, The Last Song, was written as a flipped image of A Walk To Remember.
The brief question and answer session consisted of him offering is reaction to The Notebook being made into a musical, how much say he has in casting for movies (not much), and when a new novel will be coming out (hopefully in the fall/winter). For having 1000 people at the event, most who stayed for the book signing, the line moved fairly quickly.
This was definitely a night that I'll remember when thinking back on my college years. Here's hoping that the school decides to invite him back again!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment