A Giddy Phone Call

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Yesterday, I spoke with Nicholas Sparks on the phone. Yes, that Nicholas Sparks, the novelist. His newest novel, The Choice, is currently number one on USA Today’s Best Selling Books list.

A bunch of us “mommy-bloggers” were invited to participate in a conference call with Mr. Sparks (Nicholas, may I call you Nicholas, Mr. Sparks?). We each had an opportunity to ask two questions, and as it turns out, we collectively asked questions already answered on his website.

It was fun, though I bet he gets tired of answering the same questions.

I was the last blogger invited to ask a final question and I asked him my favorite question for writers: “What are you reading now?” (I prefaced this by saying perhaps he doesn’t have time to read since he’d already mentioned that he has five kids, works out two hours a day, coaches for three hours a day, and is involved with the start-up of a private school. He said he rarely watches television or surfs the Internet.)

But, he said, oh yes, he reads and reads a lot. Here are the last six books he’s read:

1. A book called Unbroken that someone gave to him. (I don’t know author or genre.)

2. Bowerman and the Man of Oregon: The Story of Oregon’s Legendary Coach and Nike’s Co-founder.

3. The Case Against Homework.

4. The Post-Birthday World.

5. 1453.

6. “The latest Grisham novel,” which is Playing for Pizza.

Someone asked him, “Do you find writing cathartic?” and he said, “No! I find writing hard!” He also pointed out that what he writes are “modern day Greek tragedies.” Love stories, he said, descend from Greek tragedy in which every story ends with a bittersweet or tragic ending (as opposed to a romance novel which always features a happy ending).

He also said, “Love changes you,” and in his books, love changes the characters.

At the end of the telephone call, he mentioned that he’s been on tour for 10 or 11 days and furthermore, that he was really sick. I couldn’t hear an audible “awwwww,” but I suspect that every single woman clutching a phone to her ear thought the same thing and wanted to personally tuck him under the covers and tell him to rest.

(His website is full of information for writers and readers alike. Just so you know. And here is a link to another blogger’s transcript of the phone conference

Immigrants (L.A. Dolce Vita) dvd

.  Oh, and look here.  Here’s another blogger’s post about it.)

Published by Mel

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13 thoughts on “A Giddy Phone Call”

  3. He is a beautiful writer. I have loved each one, but my favorite has to be “Three Weeks with my Brother”. It is wonderful! I cried at least 3 different times and probably more.

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  7. Oh how wonderful for you!!! he is my absolute favorite author and I have read them all – except for the newest at this point. Thanks for sharing that!! It was also interesting to note what he is now reading – good question!

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  8. I just today finished Nicholas Sparks’ A Bend in The Road. Great book, but it is a Greek tragedy sort of novel. Weird that you had just “interviewed” him. I picked up the book randomly at the library. Of all the New York Times Bestselling authors for me to be reading and you to be blogging about. It was a neat coincidence for me to hop online and read about that.

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  10. I love his books-and I love the fact that he is from North Carolina! The military may move us around a lot, but NC will always be my home. That’s so cool you got to do that.

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