Cinetopia

If you think back to your favorite romance movies of the past ten years, chances are at least one of them was based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. All of his works combine the perfect amount of conflict, romance and heartache. As silly as it may sound, women actually seem to enjoy a good cry while watching a movie, and Sparks’ works are all tear-jerkers.One of his first hits came with Message in a Bottle, whose screenplay was written by Gerald Di Pego and released in 1999. A woman finds a bottle washed up on the beach with a love letter inside. She tries to find the author, who wrote the letter to his deceased wife, and falls in love with him along the way. Another of Sparks’ novels that made its way to the big screen was A Walk to Remember. In this tale, two people from completely opposite worlds fall in love and grow together out of an approaching death. The transformation of a young boy and an unspeakable tragedy are guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes.Arguably Sparks’ most popular novel turned film is the 2004 romantic drama, The Notebook. This film is narrated by an elderly man who reads a love story to a woman with dementia at the nursing home where they reside. Allie (Rachel McAdams) and Noah (Ryan Gosling) are torn apart at the end of a summer romance only to spend the next several years trying to find their way back to each other. This beautifully-heart wrenching tale is considered by many to be the Titanic of this generation.Sparks’ novels continue to make their way to the big screen, with recent hits such as Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John, and The Last Song. Though all these stories combine similar elements of love and tragedy, they continue to be a success because each one seems to uncover a love story from a different period, age group and setting.