Do you like love stories? Do you like tear-jerkers? If so, Nicholas Sparks's 1996 novel, "The Notebook," is for you.

The book begins with an old man reading from a notebook to an old woman. His arthritis is so bad that he can no longer hold a pen to write, and his body is frail and bent over with age. But his mind is sharp, unlike hers. Alzheimer's has deprived the woman of any memory of who she was. It is clear they care for one another, but the author does not reveal their relationship until much later in the book. Instead, we hear the story in the notebook - a story of young love, class division, separation, and rediscovery.

Noah and Allie were very young when they met and fell in love before Allie's wealthy parents moved her away to block a relationship with working-class Noah. During their summer romance, they met in secret at an old, decrepit building in a nearby town.

When Noah enlisted to fight in World War II, he wrote every day but never received a response. Years later, he returned to town and bought and fixed up the old house in which the couple made memories. After reading about the house renovation in the local paper, Allie visits Noah for the first time in fourteen years. The pair rekindle their romance, even though Allie is engaged to Lon, a rich, upwardly mobile attorney.

Sparks does an excellent job making the reader feel for these characters and wonder who Allie will choose.

When the story returns to the present-day nursing home, we learn the relationship between the young lovers and the elderly couple.

"The Notebook" contains romance, tragedy, destiny, and how relationships change with the stages of life. Sparks also relates the effects of aging with tenderness and sensitivity that was impressive in a first published novel.

In addition, it gives the reader this memorable passage on the first page:

"I am a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough."