What I’m Reading: The Longest Ride

I just finished up listening to a Nicholas Sparks audio book, The Longest Ride.  True to form, as with all Nicholas Sparks books, it was good.

There is something comforting about a Nicholas Sparks book.  It might be an okay book-but it is never really going to be a bad book so I read them all the time.

With this one, two parallel stories are taking place…one is about Ira Levinson who is suffering through a car crash-the other is about Luke and Sophia.  When the book changes between the characters the first few times I was surprised wondering how these two stories could possibly diverge and come together.  Each story in their own right is good.

Here’s what Amazon had to say about it, “Ira Levinson is in trouble. Ninety-one years old and stranded and injured after a car crash, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together – how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families. Ira knows that Ruth can’t possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage.

A few miles away, at a local bull-riding event, a Wake Forest College senior’s life is about to change. Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school. Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward — even life and death – loom large in everyday life. As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans — a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he’s keeping doesn’t destroy it first.

Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.”

I read that the book is becoming a movie and will be out about a year from now.  Based on my feelings about the book-I’ll likely go see the movie.  I looked around to see if I could find which actors are playing the parts but didn’t find any of that information yet.  I think Judd Hirsch (the guy from the old sitcom Taxi) would make an awesome Ira.

Amazon readers give the book 4.6 stars.  I’d say 4.3 stars…good-I would recommend it but you know Nicholas Sparks…just a little cheesy but a cheese I like.